Wolf Cub
by Araceil
Summary: AU. PAIRINGS UNKNOWN. At 2 years old young Harry is abandoned in the wilderness by his Uncle, throwing the Wizarding world into chaos, and is taken in by a wolf pack. Now, 14 years later, he's been found. Chapter 8 up! IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!
1. Chapter 1

**I got bored. So shoot me.**

_I do not own Harry Potter, he belongs to J.K.Rowling. All other characters, places, spells and such which are marked or Original will be listed at the bottom of the chapter._

Full Summary: Abandoned in the New Forest at 2-years-old, young Harry Potter is taken in by a small wolf-pack's Alpha female, thus throwing the Wizarding world into chaos and panic. Now, 14-years-later, he's been found. PAIRINGS UNKNOWN.

**Chapter One**

Petunia Gladys Dursley was worried. You could tell by the way she wrung her hands and shot her husband Vernon glances from the corner of her pale jade green eyes, nothing at all like the vivid emerald of her younger sister, nothing like the colour of her nephew's large eyes as he watched the only living relatives he had left from a battered second hand car-seat behind Vernon.

Her darling little Dudders was making an absolute racket from his car-seat behind Petunia, either he was hungry or needed a nappy-change; Petunia sighed, she had to admit, her nephew was unnaturally quiet; was it some psychological thing because he'd seen his parents murdered? Did the last moments of Lily Evans' life play in front of his eyes as he slept; prompting him to remain silent as she no doubt begged him in her last moments of life? He never cried and screamed unless it was something important like he'd scrapped his knee or was very, very hungry.

"Vernon, where are we going?" She asked him weakly; he had been brooding over the past week, black moods that made her nervous to be in the same room. She knew he would never raise a hand against her, she knew it! But she'd seen him spank her nephew harder than necessary on many occasions, leaving bruises on the little child's body. She closed her eyes, no her mother was wrong, Vernon was a good man! He was only giving the little Urchin his dues!

But... if he could raise his hand against a child, admittedly a child who often deserved his punishments, what would stop him from raising a hand against her?

It was a terrifying thought as she twisted to stare at her husband with worried jade eyes, his features were more flushed than usual and his watery blue eyes were glittering with something that Petunia did not want to fathom, it frightened her.

"We're going for a walk in the forest." He declared, "Dudley's going to be a famous hunter and he's going to know the ways of the woods!" He exclaimed proudly, glancing over his shoulder to his screaming son. Petunia nodded, OK she could swallow that.

Little Harry watched the two adults with guileless green eyes; something told him that his life was going to change today.

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Petunia couldn't believe it, "You left him behind?" She hissed as Vernon got into the car leaving her standing by the open passenger door staring with wide green eyes.

"Yes. If the brat wants to act like an animal he can live like them, then." He stated bluntly keying in the ignition and closing the door, "Get in Pet. I think Dudders is tired." He stated glancing over his shoulder to his son who was snoozing in his car seat having had a fun afternoon upon his father's shoulders grabbing at the leaves over head and punching his cousin when they were sitting in the pushchair.

Petunia shifted, twisting and turning where she stood, hugging herself. What was she to do? One the one hand, she completely agreed with Vernon –as every good wife should, but on the other, Harry was her nephew, her blood! And only a baby! Leaving him in the New Forest when he was only a toddler, it was signing his death warrant! And what if _they_ found out?

"Petunia!" Vernon barked, silencing her internal debate. "Get into the car." He growled threateningly. Her eyes widened and Petunia hurriedly slid into the leather upholstery and closed the door, the loud CTHUNK sounding like the final thud of a guillotine or the trap-door of the gallows opening beneath her feet.

The car drove off and Petunia couldn't help but think... had she done the right thing?

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The She-wolf watched them from the shadows of the river-bank, the fat two legger was dragging a cub – not his, their scents were far too different --bythe arm; the cub's small legs hardly keeping up forcing the fat two-legger to carry the cub more-often than him walking. The fat one smelled like sickness, unhealthy and sweaty, the thick reek of aftershave –not that she knew what it was called, was thick from him added onto the scent of another cub. The other human cub was definitely the fat one's cub.

The fat one suddenly stopped and spun the cub around to face him, holding him by the shoulders, Fat growled lowly at the cub who was shaking and nodding, keeping his eyes on the floor avoiding eye contact. Fat suddenly pushed the cub to the floor and got to his feet, barking over his shoulder and noisily leaving, the cub watching him go without moving from his spot on the floor.

If she could frown, she would have. Two-leggers are strange creatures. Did they not know that leaving one of their cubs in this place without protection is inviting their death?

She settled herself down to watch over the two-legger cub. She was a mother herself, she would hate to find one of her own dead, so she would protect this cub and ensure another mother did not have to suffer like that.

She waited until sunset.

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Harry frowned from where he was sat on the grass, watching the dappled sunlight dance across the dirt path in front of him; Uncle Vernon said he would be right back... what was taking him so long? He was hungry, not to mention cold and he needed someone to change his nappy.

The black haired 2-year-old looked up at the darkening sky and shivered wrapping his arms around his diminutive frame, the thick woolly hand-me-down from his cousin and a pair of cotton shorts upon his legs were not all that insulating and as the sunset – lighting the sky up in gold, pink and purple light – carried on, it would only get colder for Little Harry.

And still Uncle Vernon had not returned to take him back to his cupboard. Harry sighed heavily in the manner he had often heard his Aunt when he'd started crying in hunger, she would feed him but Uncle Vernon would often ignore him or spank him for being a loud ungrateful brat. It was now that Harry began to sniffle, he did not cry, there was no point if no one was there to hear him. No matter what his Uncle said, Harry was not a stupid child.

The she-wolf wuffed impatiently, her pack would be getting worried by now, especially her cubs, but she couldn't leave this little one on his own. A life was precious, one of the most precious things to a wolf was new life, they brought the future, and while wolf's were very much creatures of the present, she did not deny the need for the future.

She got to her feet and padded over to the cub who turned around so fast he fell over before pushing himself up to watch her, he had the greenest eyes she'd ever seen. They were such a vivid colour; they made the sun-dappled grass outside her den appear dull and washed out in comparison. She approached warily as the cub watched her, he wasn't afraid; he was wary and curious but not afraid. Which was an unusual reaction from the Two-leggers, they were either afraid or angry when they knew of her existence.

He smelt male, obviously, older than her cubs yet young by the Two-leggers' standards, they were such strange backward creatures. Her nose told her that one day he would be a formidable creature, power would practically reek from him. There were no tell-tale signs that would tell her he was somehow wrong, that there was a hidden weakness that would carry him away before he attained his growth or stunt and cripple him before gaining his full potential. No, this pup, given decent food and shelter would be as useful when old and frail as he would in his prime. She knew these things, knew it in the same way she knew, when testing a flock of deer for weakness, which ones were vulnerable and just how vulnerable they were.

The Two-legger cub reached out hesitantly for her, she obliged, lowing her head for his tiny fingers to run through the fur on her forehead, she closed her eyes in pleasure when those clever little fingers scratched behind her ears. Oh, she would have to keep this one around. Her tail wagged eliciting a giggle from the pup, the she-wolf nosed forward, bumping into his chest to which the child laughed again and hugged her around the neck, inhaling her scent deeply.

The she-wolf gave a low growl of affection as she took the two-legger cub in her jaws, using his outer pelt to hold him (the T-shirt) the cub went perfectly still as all good cubs would when picked up by their mother's and the wolf started off at a lazy trot toward her den deep in the woods.

She would have to be careful with the little one, her pack-mates may mistake him for food and she must make herself clear to them. He was now _her_ cub and none of them would turn him out without suffering her anger and tooth. The two-legger cub was watching the forest around them as she travelled to her den,she would have to care for him until he was capable of caring for himself. But she had no idea how long that would take.

The she-wolf gave the wolf-version of a sigh. She was too old for this.

Her den was situated across broken terrain, deep in the woods close to bear territory, a dangerous place in the Spring when the bears went in search of meat to recover from their winter of hibernation but so far removed from the rest of the forest and on such broken terrain – despite the fact that it was like a high-way for her pack – ensured that no Two-leggers ventured this close.

She padded into the clearing and paused looking around, the clearing was deserted and she could hear the faint yipping and scuffling from her cubs play-fighting in the den. The rest of them must have gone hunting, she decided and dropped the human cub, nosing him toward the den.

Their den was set in the roots of a rather old oak tree that was leaning to an exceptionally odd angle with rough terrain circling the small clearing of dirt and grass. Little Harry crawled into the darkness of the tree roots, enveloped in darkness, he saw three sets of glowing eyes fix on him in the gloom and he panicked, desperately back peddling into the she-wolf who was nosing him. She sighed again in the peculiar way that wolves do and gave him a sharp nip on the shoulder, urging him into the den. Harry squeaked slightly but never the less crawled into the large spacious den and was greatly surprised as the she-wolf stepped over him and light streamed into the small underground niche, giving it a faint but warm light from the still setting sun.

The three cubs fell over each other to sniff and paw their new brother who in turn mimicked them and laughed when exuberant tongues went for his face and tiny yet sharp teeth gnawed on his black hair. The she-wolf watched all this silently with amused amber eyes, she sighed again drawing attention to herself from her cubs who suddenly raced away from the human cub to their mother, clustering around her belly and fixing themselves to the source of all that is good in their worlds: her milk swollen teats.

Harry crept forward shyly on his hands and knees, following the examples of the furry grey puppies under the watchful gaze of the grey wolf who sniffed him imperiously before licking his cheek and laying back head resting upon her paws. Harry looked at the cubs who were still greedily suckling and reached for one of the grey/pink nipples on her stomach, squeezing it experimentally and shocked himself as a small squirt of some translucent white liquid shot out. The boy took his hand away quickly and stared at the stuff coating his fingers curiously, he'd never seen anything like it, it reminded him of pee-pee but that stuff is yellow, not white.

He carefully licked his finger and almost reeled in surprise, it tasted good! The black haired boy crawled forward and greedily fastened his mouth onto the teat and suckled along with his new siblings. After all, he was a growing boy!

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It was the early hours of the morning when the rest of the pack returned, their bellies heavy with meat to almost double take at the sight that greeted them. The female, who was known as Alkalin in their pack, was fast asleep, head on paws, her tail curled around her three cubs and a single human child who was nestled between them –also fast asleep.

Swift looked to his brother, the father of the cubs, to see his reaction. Nighteyes was surprised but not displeased, confused but not hateful. It looked as if the human cub would remain with their pack, especially if Alkalin had anything to say on the matter. The bitch(1) was a force of nature in her own right, as mothers most often are.

Black Tip sniffed delicately at the child before looking to them and shrugging in the manner only wolves could. '_He does not smell of threat._'(2) The male informed them before circling the she-wolf and cubs, sniffing them from tail to nose, '_Alkalin and the cubs are healthy. We can sleep. Two-leggers have not come this way._' He told them before stalking off to the corner and curling up, tail to nose, and closing his amber eyes to sleep off the meat in his gut.

Swift sighed sitting on his haunches and scratching the side of his head before getting back up and laying down to the left of the entrance of the den, '_Sleep brother._' The slender wolf told Nighteyes, '_We will deal with this when we wake._' He stated likewise closing his eyes leaving his brother Nighteyes and the other two, another female and male to their own devices.

Nighteyes sighed and circled his mate as the rest of the pack found their sleeping places and settled himself down at her back, head resting upon herhaunches and went to sleep. The morning would decide young Harry's fate.

Until then, they slept.

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(1) Bitch meaning female dog. For this, Swift is calling herfemale this is not meant as an insult. As such, the males are known as Dogs, females Bitches. For those of you who might not know.

(2) Wolf is Laconic, itsa rather sparse way of speaking. Using the least amount of words as possible. Look it up in a dictonary if you're not happy with my crappy explanation. X3

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**Very short chapter so far. Don't worry; the second one will be longer. Promise.**

R&R Please. Constructive criticism welcome, flamers will be eaten. If you wanna bitch take it elsewhere.

_Araceil._


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter. Brace yourselves.**

Answer to reviewers

**Delilah Evans:** XD I can't tell you that! It would give way too much away!

**Sawiuk:** Well I can say yes he will. You'll find out how in the next few chapters. He'll probably start attending when he's older; the summary says that 14-years after he's ditched he's found. So Harry-kins'll be 16 when he goes to Hogwarts.

**Korrd:** oi! XDD I happen to like slash, of both sexes. Love knows no gender! But I have seriously not thought about any of the pairings because Harry's personality is so far removed from what it is in the books. (For once he's not a poncy Gryffindor Golden boy who needs to hide behind Dumbledore's cotton candy pink robes. ((I really don't like cannon Harry and Dumbledore. Harry's a wimp and Dumbledore's a manipulative bastard.)))

**Thanks also to **_Amanda Burke, __dubdigit, __fickle fiend_** and **_Cessations_** for reviewing.**

_Do not own Harry Potter. I own everything else. Stuff which is important will be listed at the bottom of the chapter. Yadda yaddda yadda._

**Chapter Two**

The wolf-pack slept until noon the following day, their bodies still digesting the meat of their kills the night before and of course the cubs and Harry awoke first. His furry siblings clamouring for their mother to wake so they could feed, Harry sitting quietly just out of the way unsure of himself and how to behave. He hadn't noticed the sudden increase in wolves yet.

The cubs finally succeeded in awakening their mother who sniffed in what sounded like a rather affronted and irate manner to Harry before shifting her weight and giving the furry little terrors free access to their breakfast. Alkalin winced as one of the older cubs bit down a little too enthusiastically before she sniffed her newest cub, it hadn't escaped her notice that her mate and the rest of the pack had returned, after all, her back was warm and their scent was thick in the den.

Harry giggled quietly as the she-wolf's nose went through his wild mane of black hair; he was once again pulled forward by his T-shirt toward her where she gave him a tongue bath. Licking away the crusted eye-snot that had accumulated since the night before, Harry tried to grab at her face but Alkalin was prompted to do what parent wolves sometimes do – place a heavy paw on the toddler to keep his fingers out of her eyes, nose and ears. Not to mention allow her to finish giving the cub his bath. That done, she nosed him toward his siblings; where Harry joined in on the meal, greedily fastening his mouth onto a teat much like the others, and gave her a little measure of peace to get a little extra sleep.

'_Alkalin._' The she-wolf turned her head to her mate who licked the side of her face before sniffing at the cubs, specifically Harry. '_Why have you taken the Two-leggers cub?_' Nighteyes asked sniffing at his mate. Alkalin growled briefly,

'_The cub was abandoned. I will not allow a cub to die._' She stated turning her attention back to her furry little monsters as they finished feeding and began to rough house in the small enclosed space of their den. Nighteyes felt like arguing but gave it up as a lost cause, his mate could be as stubborn as a goat when she made her mind up, he leaned over her and sniffed at the still feeding child. He wasn't wrong... but there was something different in his scent compared to most two-leggers. He'd only smelled that scent once or twice in his life and it was usually in contact with powerful two-leggers, ones that appeared from the shadows and breathed light and fire from their hands. (1)

Nighteyes sighed and got to his feet, nudging Alkalin slightly with his nose before stalking out of the den, the cubs tumbling over themselves and tripping on paws they had yet to grow into, on their father's tail. Alkalin watched with amusement as the two-legger cub stayed close to her, crawling out behind her and staying close, those vivid green eyes large and wary as he crawled out into the sun dappled clearing of early afternoon.

Pretty soon he was attacked by his siblings; they wanted to know who their new brother was and just how strong he was. And what better way to find out than with play-fighting?

Harry wasn't one to like fighting but he knew this was for play, after all last night none of them had attacked him, even when he joined them for their breakfast. So they played, pouncing on each other and yipping with either victory or surprise depending on who was landed upon. It wasn't long before Swift and the other two slinked out of the den and watched with some surprise as the little two-legger cub wrestled fiercely with the others.

It surprised them that such a scrawny two-legger cub could be so vicious.

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And so it continued. Their pack was small, Alkalin and Nighteyes were the alphas, Swift was Alkalin's younger brother and the fastest of their group. The other female was called Rianae, she had some dog blood in her but none of their pack begrudged her for it, though she was still the lowest of their group for her darker coat. Wolves are like humans in that respect, they don't like differences. The other male had once been a loner that joined their pack before Alkalin became pregnant, his brains were a little addled but Black Tip was uncannily capable of predicting the outcomes of hunts and the situation of the forest around them.

Their lives were simple, it took Harry a while but by the time he was 5 he could speak and understand the language of the Wolves very well. His other language skills were top notch, he could speak and understand the two languages of the snakes, his Second Raven was fluent but his first and third were slightly lacking. His cat was surprisingly good and he was beginning to learn owl, he'd taken to learning deer as well though this did confuse his pack. Why learn the language of your lunch? Seemed kind of counter productive to them but Harry was determined to know it.

Harry became very close to his siblings, the eldest of the three was a male called Black Leg because one of his hind legs was darker than the rest of him, there was one female who they called Blue because of her blue eyes –usually wolf eyes are amber but sometimes they're blue, and the youngest was a male called Smudge, he was a grey wolf but had a smudge of black fur upon his forehead above his left eye.

They tried to name Harry but could never seem to get a name to fit; eventually they gave up and simply called him Raven, such as the colour of his hair.

The Snakes all called him Lightning Child which confused him to no end; some of them seemed to think he was a god while others tried to go out of their way to hurt him. It was the ones that tried to kill him that gave off a funny scent that made the scar on his forehead prickle. It was a strange sensation.

He'd long ago discovered that the forest had some strange abilities, the scent that he could smell lingering upon those snakes could be smelt every full moon when the wind swept down from the north east.(2) He knew he was considered old by Wolf standards yet young by Two-legger and he was confused as to why his sister was being courted by a Male from another pack, Blue also didn't seem to give him the same attention she did them, she acted differently around him. When Harry asked his mother about it she laughed, Wolf laughter was most peculiar and much more different from human laughter but it was unmistakeable as a happy sound. She told him that he would probably understand when he was older since humans seemed to age a lot slower than they did.

Harry was also curious about that, after all he knew his mother was reaching 8-years-old and his siblings were just as old as he was... he guessed, and he remembered meeting one of the elders from the pack where that male was prancing and simpering over his sister. He was 15-years-old with fur almost silver-white with age, his joints stiff and legs shaky; it was amazing that he was still in a pack. Usually when wolves got too old they were driven out to die alone, much like the wounded who couldn't keep up. The life of a wolf was all about survival of the fittest. Harry also remembered that the Old wolf smelt nothing like his pack, where the scent of the forest at full moon was thick with his pack, these others smelled... weak almost. Their scents didn't stand out upon his senses as much as any of his family's. They were even paler than those strange two-leggers that were about the size of a hedgehog curled up as they ran through the grass.(3) Smudge loved to chase them.

Harry was about seven years old when everything changed and their simple life changed.

'_Smudge, if you're done changing the grubby Two-leggers..._' Harry stated from where he was perched upon the fallen tree that once stood tall beside their den. A huge storm 3 years ago had unearthed it, making the ground shake and the wolves anxious about leaving their den. Harry had stayed close to his mother Alkalin during that storm as the water began to seep through the earth and make their den that much more colder.

Smudge pounced but jumped in surprise at his take-off with Harry's words, thus misjudging his jump and missing the little two-legger as it raced across the ground squealing gruffly. '_Raaaven! You did that on purpose!_' the wolf whined giving his brother an acidic glare to which Harry grinned impishly.

'_Of course. C'mon, Mother wants to see us! D'ya know where Blue is?_' He asked as Smudge began trotting off in the direction of the stream where their mother was no doubt waiting for them Harry walking beside him. Despite growing up as a wolf, Harry walked on two legs simply because he knew he wasn't built to walk on four and he would be slow and useless if he did so –unable to see beyond his own fur.

Smudge snorted in amusement, '_probably with that loser from the other Pack. What was his name anyway?_' Harry snorted,

'_How the hell should I know? I was a bit busy trying to pin down that bloody annoyance we call younger siblings._' He muttered, Alkalin had given birth to another litter of pups and one of them began to see fit to chase after Harry non-stop and never let him out of her sight for prolonged periods of time. Of course Harry out ran her and managed to get some peace and quiet for a few hours, which was usually how long it took her to follow his scent, no matter how many times Harry crossed over an area and laid false tracks and scents she always found him. Of course his siblings and Black Tip would tease him mercilessly about it but he would simply claim that he was training her to be a master tracker, it never convinced them but it did provide hours of amusement during the winter months when they had nothing else to do but hunt and sleep.

Smudge sighed as they slipped through the trees around the stream and trotted into the clearing; they were surprised to see various creatures from the forest and stiffened at the sight of the beer Queen. The huge black grizzly female was sat peacefully with her back to a small over hang with a large oak behind her; she watched them with intelligent, yet for once gentle coal black eyes.

'_Raven, Smudge. Please hold yourselves under control amongst the smaller of our brethren. This is not the time for bloodshed or death._' Nighteyes stated calmly where he was sat beside Alkalin who was lying down and trying to keep her new litter of cubs from causing too much of a ruckus. Harry and Smudge exchanged glanced and made their way over to their family and made themselves comfortable on the ground, waiting for the rest of the creatures to arrive.

It had been many a year since the last council of their forest was held, Harry noted that every creature that had gathered held the lingering wisp of that strange scent, most of the creatures were usually so intent of killing and eating each other for survival for such meetings to be held upon a regular basis. So they vowed that the council would only be called when there was a crisis that effected _all_ of them and not just one specific species, other wise the rabbits, duck and deer would be holding an annual meeting every year when the Two-leggers went hunting for them with their black thunder sticks(4).

A moment later Blue bounded into the clearing and settled herself down beside Harry who noted her fur was a little more dishevelled than usual, '_What happened to you? Your furs all weird, did you get into a fight?_' Harry whispered to her, Blue looked momentarily surprised before she lay down and covered her nose with her paws in an attempt to silence her giggling. Harry blinked and looked to Black Leg who likewise was trying not to laugh.

They didn't have to wait any longer as a distinct hush suddenly fell over the clearing, Harry froze as a pure white creature stepped forward, her coat shining so brightly it would make the purest snow appear grey. The unicorn tossed her head and surveyed the creatures in front of her imperially, her clear ocean blue eyes pausing briefly on the Wolf boy before sliding past as if she'd never stopped.

Blue was shivering beside him, '_Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no._' she kept whimpering over and over under her breath. Harry frowned,

'_Blue?_'

'_Rianae told me about unicorns. They come to magical forests that are on the brink of destruction to tell the magical residents to leave, they're considered pure and good creatures by the Two-leggers but to us they're omens of destruction. Black Tip was driven out of his pack because a unicorn appeared and told them that their forest was doomed but their leader could not take them to safety. He was their Alpha and was driven out because they thought him too weak to lead them._' She whispered hurriedly her blue eyes fixated upon the glowing animal that calmly stepped into their world and brought it down around their ears. Harry went cold his green eyes snapping to the unicorn with something akin to hatred in his eyes, this creature was going to hurt his pack!

'**Children of the wilderness.**' The unicorn's melodic voice floated to every ear, '**I bring bad tidings. Your forest is on the brink of darkness. The two-leggers have grown weary of our trees and will take them leaving this land empty and barren.**' She declared, her voice rising above the thin watery wails of the rabbits who wouldn't survive the journey to a new warren(5) and the squirrels whose dreys(6) were in the trees. Harry frowned, if this were a magical forest, wouldn't the two-leggers be unable to cut it down?

Nighteyes took a deep breath and stepped forward, '_And what of us? Where will we go? If the rumours of your kind are true this means we must find a forest of magic to continue our lives to their full._' He stated, meeting those cool blue eyes with his predatory amber ones. One hoof out of line and the wolves would eat her, a creature of magic she may be but against a wolf pack she stood no chance.

'**For those of you capable of making the journey... my brethren have a forest far to the north-east that can never be taken. My people make their home there as do many others of magic-blood. I would advise you to make the journey there. And those of you who need not the magic within the trees, there are forests along the way where you might find it to your liking. But heed me now, this place will teeter upon the brink for three more dawns before falling to the darkness of death.**' The unicorn once again looked around at those in the clearing before turning on hoof and walking sedately out of the clearing.

There was a moment of silence before everything exploded in cacophony of noise, the creatures were arguing left and right with each other, some wailing at the hopelessness of it, other raging against the Unicorns and others who were antagonising everything by saying that they would never survive the journey or threatening to eat those who did not shut up.

Nighteyes sighed heavily and got to his feet, feeling his 9-years-of-life all the more acutely now than ever as he motioned for the rest of the pack to follow him. Harry frowned trotting after his father as the rest of the forest was in disarray, Blue shivering beside him while Black Leg was fuming and Smudge uncharacteristically silent. The wolf pack left unnoticed, being the only creatures not to start a ruckus over the matter.

Harry looked over to his parents who for the first time looked old. He frowned, wondering if they would survive this trek up north, wondering if _he_ would survive the journey up north. Harry sighed scooping up his littlest brother and rubbing a hand upon his stomach prompting the furry little menace to squirm and try to bite and claw his hand. Vicious little shit.

'_What am I to do?_' Blue suddenly asked him, Harry blinked looking down at her, she smelt miserable. '_Toboe asked me to become his mate next Round moon. We were to go and look for our own hunting grounds, maybe start our own pack._' She explained her voice heavy with sadness and bitter resignation and confusion. Harry's heart went out to her, she had everything planned out and now she would have to leave it or die.

Harry placed a hand upon her head and scratched her behind the ears, knowing how much she loved that particular brand of affection, '_You really feel for him don't you?_' Love was a foreign concept for most wolves but as Harry had discovered, those with the same strange scent as his family were a lot worldlier than those without. They understood such concepts as hate, anger, jealousy and love; they could also crack some pretty good jokes given the right incentive.

She nodded silently; Harry frowned slightly as they reached the clearing where they'd grown up, '_Maybe... maybe we could take him with us? He could join _our_ pack and come with us to that forest up north that the Unicorn told us about. You might even find the perfect territory for your new pack and Smudge and I could come and visit when ever we wanted to, Black Leg too!_' Harry explained excitedly,

'_Yup! Raven's right!_' piped up the cub in his hand, Lucky peered over the 7-year-old's arm to eye his older sister, '_Get your nose out of the two-leggers shit Blue! Nose in the stream and up to the moon! Cheer up!_' He chirped bringing a round of chuckles and doggy smiles to the group. Lucky always had the strangest metaphors and anaologies, even if they had no idea what they meant.

Harry sighed as they ducked down into the den and curled up together to conserve heat, they had three days until they had to leave for their journey up north. Harry would need to make a trip to the near-by Two leggers den, he needed more of those outer pelt things that they called "cu-lo-ss"(7)

He shifted slightly on the floor eyes flickering shut in the gloom, he didn't even flinch when he felt his younger sister –the little stalker they called Ithn, jump upon him and make herself comfortable on the small of his back. Harry frowned slightly in the gloom as he thought about the cubs.

Would _they_ be able to make the journey or not?

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**(1)** Well, wolves wouldn't know the difference from a normal twig and a wand, even if they could see them. And just so you know, he's talking about witches and wizards. As for the appearing from shadows, think Apparation and invisibility cloaks.

**(2)** What's up in the North East? Thaaat's riiight! Hogwarts! The Forest has slight wisps of Magic power in it, hence why the wolves and other animals have a slightly longer life span and are a little more intelligent than that of your usual animals. The magic also becomes more noticeable on the full moon because that's got the most power, and the magic in the breeze from Hogwarts activates the magic already there and there for makes it all the more tangible.

**(3)** Gnomes. You know the little things in Ron's back-garden.

**(4) Black thunder sticks**: Guns. Shot guns and air rifles. Hunting stuff. You know like Deer Season, Duck season, Rabbit season. Hunting. Its illegal now but it wasn't back when ickle Harrikins was younger.

**(5)** **warrens** are kind of like the dens for rabbits. Under ground there's a lot of tunnels and chambers that whole cities of rabbits can inhabit. Warrens are hard to find and even harder to make, hence why most rabbits are loath to leave specific places that they've made theirs.

**(6)** **Dreys** are like the warrens but for Squirrels and they're made in trees which house only two parent squirrels and their young. The parents keep their nests and kick the younglings out when they're old enough to take care of themselves. (Kind of like our parents too.)

**(7)** **cu-lo-ss**. XDD Sorry couldn't resist. Clothes. Sound it out kids. Cu-lo-ss. Sounds like clothes, Harry's been living with animals, he doesn't know how to read and write. Or even how to speak English. Harry is wearing clothes in this chapter! Just so you know! XD he steals them from the near-by village, straight off the washing lines, currently he's wearing a pair of pyjama bottoms, not knowing the difference between proper clothes and other clothes. He won't wear dresses though, they're not that good for running in and they get in the way. Though they make good blankets/jackets. He should know.

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**Thanks for reading as always. Please review, again, flamers will be eaten constructive crit welcomed. **

_Araceil._


	3. Chapter 3

**Third chapter. Still going strong if a little late. Sorry about that. Writers block smacked me in the face with a trout when I was typing the end of this chapter.**

Replies to reviews

**Korrd:** Hey, hey, hey! Look, I see your point and I understand where you're coming from. However, this is still technically my story. I'll pair Harry with whomever I deem the best one to fit his personality. Hell, I may not even pair him at all. I said I haven't decided on any pairings the only ones I can tell you about with certainty is Bill/Fleur, Remus/Tonks and Hermione/Ron, simply because they're canon. And no, Humans aren't the only creatures capable of homosexuality; we're just the only ones who make a big deal about it.

**Lazycrazy...:** Sorry I can't remember your full user name. I give this same message to you, I don't know who I'm pairing Harry with, I most likely will not pair him at all if this is the hassle I'm going to get for it. And just so you know, I'm not a fan of Harry/adult-characters; it just screams paedophilia to me.

**Sorry about the huge rant for those of you not concerned. X3**

**Dubdigit:** Yes this forest would be the Forbidden Forest. And... you'll find out about the cubs later.

**Agnes:** Uhh, sorry hun, I don't understand a word your saying. My abilities in foreign languages are sorely lacking.

**Also thanks to everyone else who reviewed!**

_Do not own Harry Potter. Yadda yadda yadda. YOU GUYS KNOW THE DRILL!_

**Chapter Three**

The next morning had Harry creeping out of the den silently; he'd taken almost an hour to slip out from under Ithn and between Blue and Smudge without waking any of them. The 7-year-old looked about and sniffed the early morning air hopefully as he took off at a fast paced run, emerald eyes flitting about the broken trail.

He often ran: Mother, Swift, Smudge and Harry. Starting out early, running down hill until they reached the moors and flew across the untouched spaces. Being wolves his pack ran with fluid grace over the broken terrain, but Harry being a two-legger had to pick a path, thinking each time where his feet would land. Mother thought it was good for all young animals to learn how to pick a path and travel swiftly in any and all circumstances, Harry knew she wasn't just speaking about the trail they were running down.

It was a matter of minutes before Harry reached the village; he crouched down in the shadows, stalking through the roads and alley-ways silently in the early dawn, the black haired lad shank back into the darkness every time a Two-legger passed him. Some were very attentive to what was going on around them, as if expecting an attack, others were cheerfully oblivious and rather loud about everything they did.

It didn't take him long to find a fresh set of clean clothes on a washing line, drying in the sunlight the woman who'd just hung them out retreating into her house; Harry hopped the fence, crouching down in the flowerbed just out of sight. When he was certain the coast was clear the mischievous black haired child darted over to the washing, it was damp but not dripping wet, snatching a white single bed sheet, a black button-up shirt, another pair of trousers and a long ankle length black skirt.

Gathering them up into his arms he looked around briefly before racing back home like a bat out of hell. Little feet skipping over the ground at speeds most youngsters could not hope to achieve.

He finally skidded back into the clearing with his prize, grinning like a loon to almost barrel into his father who was watching him with amused amber eyes. '_Uhh, mornin' dad!_' Harry chirped in greeting holding his bundle a little closer and picking up the trailing edge of the sheet.

'_Good, I was going to tell you to get more of those weird outer pelts._' Nighteyes stated eyeing his son appreciatively, '_Your sister has gone off to the other pack looking for her prospective Mate. Let us just hope he can go the distance, we will probably have to travel though the snows before we reach our new territory._' He explained stalking past Harry, wolves weren't big on conversation, actions spoke louder than words.

'_Father... what about the cubs? I doubt that they'll all survive the trek in the snows._' He stated worriedly. Nighteyes sighed, but said nothing and carried on his way toward the bear territory to have a word with their Queen, maybe the unicorn if they met along the way.

Harry wrinkled his nose but never the less set about preparing for their journey, his pack put up with his odd little quirks as often they turned out to be useful, Harry used the large sheet he had pilfered and threw his outer pelts into it along with a few tools he used for hunting. A piece of flint that Harry shattered to get a sharp edge from to use for hunting, his claws and teeth were sorely lacking when it came to ripping and the tearing of throats, so he used his rock/knife. A club made from the thigh bone of a Shetland pony –wolves aren't picky about what they hunt, and a sling made from one of the outer-pelts and some clever knots. Also, if the trek became too rough on the little ones, Harry could always use his pack to help carry them. He didn't want any of his siblings to die on this venture.

Harry twisted the sheet up and over his possessions and tied it shut with a pair of knots; he was just getting to his feet when he dodged to the side, Ithn tumbling head over paws onto the floor. '_Hey no fair! You're not allowed to move!_' She exclaimed glaring at him as she picked herself up, Harry shrugged,

'_You shouldn't pounce your older brothers, especially when they can do... this!_' He exclaimed lunging forwards and grabbing his little sister and holding her up by her hind-leg.

'_Hey! No fair! I'm telling mom! MOOM!_' She howled, Harry rolled his eyes and casually stalked over to the stream, watching smugly as Ithn's eyes went wide at his plot. '_You wouldn't._' She whined, staring at Harry beseechingly. The green eyed male smirked,

'_This is what you get for pissing on my food._' He growled and dropped her in the deepest part of the water, just as Alkalin raced out of the undergrowth and sighed in irritation. Obviously she'd though that something was wrong when her daughter started shrieking for her, the she-wolf eyed her son as he sat at the edge of the water watching his little sister in case she got in trouble and shook her head. Honestly, Ithn was a handful and despite Harry's treatment of her, he was highly protective of all his siblings, especially the females and the new-borns.

'_Care to explain why you just dropped that wolf in the river?_' Growled a male voice behind Harry. The raven haired male sniffed irritably,

'_She was annoying me. Much like you are. Where's Blue?_' He demanded without turning to look at the suddenly shell-shocked tawny furred wolf behind him.

'_I'm here Raven. No need to get snappy. Believe me Toboe; he's not like this all the time._' She said pleadingly to the other male who had snapped out of his shock and was watching Harry with something akin to disgust.

'_This is Raven, your brother? He's nothing but a Two-legger!_' Whatever else was about to be said was abruptly silenced when Harry twisted around and pounced onto the other male, teeth bared, a low menacing growl building from his chest as he pinned the outsider, blazing emerald meeting alarmed amber. Ithn swam to the shore her amber eyes wide; she'd never seen her big-brother look so angry before and hastily skittered behind Blue who was watching them in concern. Alkalin sat upon the other side of the stream as her son established his dominance over the outsider, he was highly protective of his family and this 'Toboe' would have to learn quickly that he was not the top dog in their pack.

'_You would do well to hold your tongue, least you end up tonight's meal._' Harry growled punctuating his words with a sharp push on the wolf's chest that threatened to snap a rib if he shoved any harder. Toboe turned his head and offered his throat, meeting Harry's eyes would be considered a challenge; the offering of a throat was a submissive gesture, as was displaying one's belly. Harry climbed off the other wolf and gave him a cursory sniff before returning to where he was sat before, this time watching his sister and her new mate who had yet to move from the floor.

'_If you're done boys._' Alkalin stated jumping across the stream with ease and snuffing at her son before turning to the others, '_We're leaving._' She stated, Harry nodded and got to his feet, nudging Blue with his leg as he did so.

'_Race you._' He declared and took off at a run, Ithn hot on his heels barking about how he had a head-start. Blue glanced to Toboe and sighed taking off at a run following her brother and little sister, leaving Alkalin and Toboe next to the stream.

Alkalin stepped forward and sniffed him imperiously, '_You will pull your weight in this pack, don't, and you'll be run out. Come. We wait for no one._' She declared watching as the male scrambled to his paws and trotted in her wake dejectedly. He'd gone from being the second most powerful male in his pack to one of the lowest in this one, he sighed irately, that blue eyed bitch had better be worth this.

Back at the clearing, Harry had just swung his pack on when his mother and the outsider arrived; he gave the outsider a glare before tying the sheet over his left shoulder and under his right arm to make a kind of backpack. Nighteyes was watching the new male with interest but decided to leave him for now; if problems arose in the future they would be dealt with. Harshly.

'_Let's go. Kaliandra, the bear queen, told me the way. We are to follow the lowest star in the night sky until we reach a stone wall the Two-leggers built, we have to get over it and then follow the scent of magic until we reach the Ancient Forest the unicorn spoke of._' Nighteyes told them. Harry frowned slightly, sun set in west and rose in the east... so to head North they would have to... directly cross the black stone(1). His blood ran cold at the thought of such a place, so much noise and bad air and Two-leggers in their four legged death hummers(2).

The pack of wolves stalked off, moving at a ground devouring trot that they could hold up for an entire day if the need arose for it. By comparison to other packs, theirs was rather large now. Alkalin and Nighteyes, the Alphas in the lead. Swift, Black-Tip, Black Leg, Harry and Smudge the older of the males. Rianae, Blue, Ithn, Raine, and Shadow the oldest of the females, Ithn and Raine being the females in Alkalin's second litter and the youngest of that particular group. Lucky, Red-Eye and Mal the youngest males, also being the only cubs from Alkalin's third litter 4 months ago. And bringing up the rear was the Ousider –Toboe.

The group kept up their trot for the whole afternoon, Toboe not missing the way Harry often broke away from the rest of the group and doubled back to check on the cubs, herding them back into line if they started to drift and occasionally picking one of the younger ones up if he or she was flagging and carrying him/her. The sun soon set and the group had only just reached the black stone path, occasionally one of the fast four-legged death hummers would shoot past, eyes glowing bright white/yellow in the growing darkness.

Harry dropped Lucky to the ground and crouched down low, crawling his way over to his father and staying down so the Death Hummers didn't see him, they couldn't outrun something that swift of foot but luckily they seemed rather oblivious and would stay on the black path. They still did not wish to be seen.

'_Will we cross now or with first light?_' he asked at Nighteyes' left. The grey wolf sniffed his reflective amber eyes watching the road like a hungry hawk does a vole in the twilight.

'_We cross now. When the Death Hummers have paused in their running._' He stated, Harry nodded and crawled back to the cubs with his mother.

'_I'll lead the way; you follow at the back and make sure none of the cubs wander off._' Alkalin told him seriously as Lucky whined in fear. Harry nodded to show he understood and padded to the back of the line, Ithn not even bothering to pounce at him while she tried to comfort Lucky and Mal who were shivering in fright at the thought of crossing the black stone.

'_Don't worry Lucky, Mal. I would never let one of the Hummers get you._' Harry promised nuzzling the cubs who started clustering tightly together, '_Just follow Mother and stay together._' He told them as Alkalin began trotting over toward the black stone, the low rushing of the Death Hummers making the fur on the back of their necks bristle and their hackles rise in response to the threat.

'_Forward!_' Alkalin barked and broke into a run as she raced across the black stone, the line of cubs following on their ungainly legs. Harry's ears twitches, he could hear one of the hummers approaching fast.

'_faster! Hurry! RUN!_' he bellowed spotting the dark outline of the hummer just coming over the hill. The cubs squealed in terror and scampered as fast as their legs could carry them, Harry not far behind, one eye on the little line of fur-balls and the other on the approaching outline in the darkness.

**BMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMN!** (3)

Harry twisted around, emerald eyes going wide, as the bright glare of the creature bore-down upon him and his family. They'd been so focused on the _other_ death hummer... they didn't check for any others.

Lucky screamed staring at his sister; Ithn was frozen right in the middle of the hummer's path, too terrified to move.

For a moment, nothing moved.

They watched in horror as the huge monstrosity bore down on the little cub.

Ithn squeezed her eyes shut; waiting for the painful crunch that would end her life.

Harry moved.

And then...

The scent of magic flooded their noses.

None of the pack knew what happened next, not even Harry, the seven year old threw himself forward at the hummer, ramming his shoulder against the bonnet of the strangely growling creature. His feet digging into the black rock as he spear tackled the thing, the hummer screeched again as its nose crumpled and the black rock cracked, folding back on itself as the diminutive raven haired two-legger-wolf-cub-boy forced it to a stop.

Inches from his little sister's face.

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(1) Black Stone: It's a road.

(2) Death Hummers: ... do I even need to explain this one? IT'S A CAR!

(3) The BMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMN: Yeah, this is what a car horn sounds like. Well it's what _My_ car horn sounds like. Shut up. I have a sucky car. But at least I have a car! Nyaaaah! Bet you don't have a car XDDD

**Yeah I'm a rotter. Leaving it off there. Oh well. Gimme some reviews!**

Araceil


	4. Chapter 4

**Yeah, A bit of a quicker update than last time, I have the motivation this time. **

**I promise I will reply to your reviews up I will do so using the FFnet reply system because I'd rather the author's notes I stick here to be about the story. Only the story. And if at all possible, to phase out all author's notes.**

**So, any questions will be answered through the review-reply system.**

**Thank you to everyone who did review and thanks for reading to those of you who haven't.**

_I don't own Harry Potter. See the first chapter for the full disclaimer._

**Chapter Four**

Harry groaned his eyes flickering open in the dull evening light, everything hurt, it felt like someone had ground his bones into dust... or he'd eaten a funny piece of meat.

'_He's waking up, Toboe, get mother!_' someone whispered, someone who sounded like Smudge but... different. It was hard to make out. What happened?

'_Raven? Oh you're alive!_' a warm tongue lapped enthusiastically at his cheek and forehead, taking away the painful crustiness of his eyes, warm meaty breath and scent informing his nose that female was his mother, Alkalin. '_We were so worried when you just passed out, Ithn's been nearly wild with worry, she wouldn't even let Smudge near you._' She explained.

Harry frowned slightly, oh yes, now he remembered. Kinda.

After attacking the Death Hummer, he turned around and grabbed Ithn, gathering her up into his arms and fled from the road. His ears dimly registering sharp popping sounds and the scent of even more concentrated magic and the sounds of Two-Leggers communicating with words and sounds he didn't understand. He remembered one of them shouting, a few words and the scent of burning air aimed at him, he had been so busy paying attention to the attackers behind him, he didn't pay attention to the trail. His foot hooked a root and he went head over heels down a small embankment and into a thicket of gorse bushes, needles swiping at his exposed skin and hair.

Another blast of burning air came at him and this time, it hit. And then everything went dark.

'_What happened?_' he croaked looking at his mother with bleary green eyes. Alkalin nuzzled him,

'_That doesn't matter. You're alive._' She said lapping at his face again, Harry groaned easing himself upright, ignoring the pounding headache thumping at the back of his head. The world spun and then he felt a warm weight hesitantly crawl its way onto his lap, scent told him it was Ithn and she was half terrified half relieved.

'_You OK Squirt?_' he croaked lying back down, a hand rubbing across her head and scratching her behind the ears. Ithn purred in much the same way a contented house cat would as she snuggled closer; he frowned when he dimly heard more Two Leggers wandering around. Toboe growled softly,

'_This is all _your_ fault Two-Legger!_' he hissed narrowing burning amber onto the sprawled out seven-year-old in the corner of the Badger den they'd taken temporary refuge within. '_They smell just like you do! Why don't you go and joi–_' Toboe never finished his sentence before he had Blue ram into him, paws on his chest, pearly canines bared at his throat.

'_Finish that sentence._' She growled, teeth pressing down harder on her _ex_-prospective mate's throat. Toboe wisely stayed silent, his eyes wide with sudden terror, he had never expected the female to be so... vicious. Sure he'd heard rumours about this Pack from various other carnivores around, even the ravens(1) had some interesting tales. They were far more vicious and co-ordinated than most wolves, unusually so, and now it turned out that Toboe had made the mistake of courting an Alpha female when he was quite obviously _not_ Alpha material. These wolves had very light whiffs of that same scent that lingered around the Two-Legger cub they took in. The oldest of their pack called it Magic before they ran him out, the old man was too slow and was nothing more than a drain on their resources. These wolves smelled of magic.

Now that he thought about it, the Two-Legger child, he smelt more strongly of that magic stuff than the two leggers outside with their lightning sticks, maybe he was stronger than they were? After all, he just attacked a Death Hummer and survived while the larger Two-Leggers had to dodge around them. Most strange.

Nighteyes growled low from where he was positioned to the left in the gloom, '_You want to leave this Pack. Now!_' he barked as Blue stepped off the tawny male allowing him to scamper out of the den and streak away, drawing the two leggers attention as they began chasing after him with their strange lightning sticks.

'_Now would be a great time to escape._' Harry pointed out struggling to his hands and knees before crawling forward, nose twitching as he inhaled the air, '_We're good. Let's go!_' He hissed scrambling out with his parents close behind, followed by his siblings and a rather subdued Blue. '_Blue._' He whined drawing her attention, Harry slunk forward his head low and eyes beseeching as he nuzzled the side of her face, '_I'm sorry._' He told her.

Blue nipped his ear, '_Now is not the time. Run._' She commanded nosing him forward, Harry grinned wolfishly before straightening and flying off after his family, not in the least hampered by his shaky legs or cumbersome sling. Blue kept pace with him, but with a little difficulty, for all her canine speed, Harry was still faster.

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The snows set in harshly just as they hit what the Two Leggers called the 'Midlands', Harry was forced to wear the extra pelts he'd snagged and sleep curled in between his brothers and sisters as he could insulate the heat like they could. But never the less he never fell behind and often cuddled the little ones close to conserve heat, though they weren't what you could call little anymore. Ithn was well on her way to being the same size as a Collie dog, by the time they reached the Ancient forest the Unicorn told them of, she would be full grown and probably going off in search of a mate.

The pack had no more run ins with the strange Two Leggers and Harry never did another one of those strange attacks on the Death Hummers, actually, they actively avoided the Black Stones or were extra, extra vigilant when crossing. Choosing to cross during the darkness just before first light when the Black Stones were mostly quiet.

The elements were harsh but Harry never let his pack know just how much the weather was effecting him, bare feet blue with chill, ribs aching from shivering, eyes too painful to close. He couldn't show any weakness or he would lose them, finally Nighteyes called for a stop when they encountered another abandoned Fox den, wrinkling his nose at the repulsive scent (Foxes and wolves do _not_ get along.) he squirmed in following Blue who he had grown closer to in the snowy months.

Curling up on the wall furthest from the two entrances Harry curled his feet around to an impossible angle to lick the blue away, to warm them and his hands. Alkalin crawled over on her belly and stared at her son,

'_You are hurting._' She declared suddenly, startling Harry who visibly jumped.

'_No, no I'm fine. I can keep up!_' He whimpered but frowned in confusion as she simply laid down, her belly over his bluish feet,

'_Raven, your type cannot handle cold well. The snows burn your unfurred paws. We would slow, if we were not concerned for the little ones. Know that we would never run you out._' She declared before placing her head in her paws and closing her amber eyes decisively. Blue sniffed and curled up on Harry's other side her head on his thigh before also closing her eyes to sleep.

Smudge gave him the equivalent of a grin before taking his other side and Ithn hastily crawled over all three to claim Harry's lap. Harry smiled and felt a warmth bloom inside him, that warmed him from finger to toe, Blue smiled her wolfish smile, she could smell magic.

The dusk saw the wolf-pack crawling out once again from a fox den as the sky clouded and caused light dots of cold fluff to fall from the sky. Harry winced and was tempted to crawl back into the den but Smudge's head almost up his ass prevented that kind of backtracking for the moment. Biting his lip, Harry crawled out into the snow and blinked in surprise as his hand plunged into the white crisp cold snow... and didn't lose any of the warmth he felt from the night before.

Hesitantly he followed his pack out, feet kicking through the snow but not feeling anything other than the wetness. He was warm! And the undoubtedly cold wind blowing around them... was just wind.

Harry grinned blindingly at his family and they all returned it with their own doggy grins before the family set off again, racing north through the snows to their new home.

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_9 years later, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, August 12th 1996._(2)

Dumbledore rubbed his eyes under half-moon spectacles, he should have checked on the boy, five years on after Harry Potter was due to arrive at Hogwarts to become the saviour of the Wizarding world... and he could still not be found.

When the World discovered that Harry Potter had gone missing, everyone went on a man-hunt, whether to find him and raise him as their own, to get the reward, or to kill him for their loyalties to the Dark side. And still no one had found him. Not one single iota of information.

All they knew was that Vernon Dursley had abandoned him in the New Forest one day while taking his son and his wife out for a picnic. The memory of that meeting left a sour taste in Albus's mouth and he snagged another Lemon Drop infused with a Calming drought before he blew something up in his anger. Vernon Dursley... he hoped the fat git was enjoying his cell in Azkaban.

"Professor Headmaster sir!" squeaked one of the house elves, Albus opened his eyes to see a rather eccentrically dressed house-elf with many knobbly knitted bobble hats –no doubt one Hermione Granger's work, stood in front of him worriedly.

"Yes Dobby?" He asked softly, knowing how prone the little elf was to bashing his head on the nearest object –usually Fawkes's perch and the Phoenix wasn't fond of it.

"Professor Lupin sir wishes to speak to you Professor Headmaster sir." He squeaked, bowing again. Albus smiled suddenly hopeful,

"Send him in Dobby." He ordered, the house elf nodded again and vanished with a crack. Dumbledore set aside what he was working on (mostly requests for assistance from the Ministry, letters from parents previously in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw asking him to remove the Slytherins from school, letters from Slytherin parents demanding to get rid of Hagrid and Remus. The list goes on.) and sat back to wait for the world worn werewolf.

The door creaked open and a rather haggard looking Remus Lupin strode in, his amber whiskey eyes fixed solely on Dumbledore with all the gravity of the world.

"Harry's alive."

Dumbledore blinked, shocked, baffled and floored all at the same time with those simple words.

"Remus, my boy, you know as well as I that the chances of..." the werewolf cut him off,

"I called in some favours at the Ministry Albus. The boy is alive. His name is still on the Accidental Magic registry, he's been increasingly active as of late but no one can pin-point his exact location. He's alive Albus. And he's within 20 miles of this castle."

For the first time ever. Remus Lupin saw Dumbledore, completely and utterly...

Floored. Literally as the Headmaster tumbled to the ground in a dead faint.

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Emerald eyes narrowed from between tree branches, not even daring to look away from his prey as he moved silently from 16-years of practice his bare feet not even making a sound as he crawled head first down the tree trunk, eyes fixed upon the deer as it drank warily from the pond on the outskirts of the forest.

Things got more dangerous the further you went into the forest, Harry was the only one who went over 5 miles into the thick foliage while the rest of his Pack remained on the outskirts where the hunting was plentiful and there was no threat of being eaten by Giant spiders or those strand horses with Two Legger heads.

Harry smirked and settled, his legs curling under him –prepared to pounce at the unsuspecting meal on legs.

'_BANZAAAAAI!_'

Harry pounced, missing by millimetres as his youngest Nephew catapulted out of the bushes like a mad thing, racing after the deer as it practically flew down the game trails and out of sight before Harry could even right himself before crashing into his nephew.

Lotto froze as soon as he became aware of the dark shadow looming over him, turning slowly he whimpered cowering away from his Uncle's suddenly furiously burning green eyes.

Blue nosed her way through the trees and sighed to see their Pack Leader holding her son up by the scruff on his neck and glaring at him with all of his 16-years of fury.

'_Lotto, what have I told you about interrupting Raven's hunt?_' She scolded; Lotto looked at her with wide beseeching blue eyes before Harry dropped him in disgust.

'_I'll be back tomorrow with food, _if_ I can catch it without bumbling little Pups getting in the way._' The last part hissed between sharp teeth as he glared at the wolf cub who rolled onto his stomach whimpering and pleading with his uncle. Harry threw Blue an unreadable look and took off at a run down the game trail, following the scent of that deer.

Blue sighed and nipped her son on the rump sharply in reprimand. She would have to speak with their mother soon, how on earth did she manage to have so many children and raise Raven as well? The She-Wolf must've been a saint!

Harry traced the path the Deer took and froze as a second scent floated through his nose, Unicorn... the same one that came to his forest so many moons ago. He twisted his head, looking in the direction of his prey and then where the unicorn was...

Answers were a little more important, if this was the same Unicorn, they might have to move again, not a pleasant prospect in Harry's opinion, if the Death Hummer and the cold hadn't killed him, then it was lack of food and the attacks they received from other animals that nearly did. His body was lined with scars. Twisting around Harry took off at a speedy run –one that would be impossible for a human but he didn't know that he was subconsciously using his magic to boost his abilities.

Sniffing the air delicately, Harry turned slightly and darted up a tree, circling the trunk much like a squirrel would and watched with barely concealed surprise and hostility as a huge Two-legger with thick wiry fur and a huge dog trumped under him, the dog sniffing and whimpering slightly as Harry bared his teeth in silent warning. Stupid animal, it probably could tell that he was a two legger under the scent of his Pack.

Waiting until they were out of hearing range Harry crawled down and looked around, sniffing again as he resumed tracking the Unicorn as all around him the forest began to get darker and mistier, he could feel the magic tingling up his bare arms and chest. He bared his teeth to warn it off and the obsessive tendrils of power slid away from him as if afraid, sniffing slightly he whined in confusion as he smelt someone who was definitely a Two-legger... but definitely a wolf too.

The cracking of a twig made him start and the 16-year-old dropped into a crouch emerald eyes flicking around as he looked over his shoulder, regarding the suddenly frozen Two-Legger. The one that smelt like a Wolf but like a Two-legger. He was holding one of those Lightning sticks.

Harry bared his teeth and growled, backing away from the wolf-man biting out a warning, one that he obviously didn't understand because he suddenly started speaking in that strange Two-Legger language, a paw outstretched toward him.

His voice warm, comforting, coaxing.

Harry snarled and whirled around racing back toward his pack, He would not be manipulated!

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Remus stared at the spot where he finally lost sight of his Cub; the lad didn't even understand him, the way he growled... the way he smelt... The scars... the way his wolf responded to the boy...

Harry was a werewolf(3).

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**(1) the Raven: **From what I know of the Celts, the Raven, the Wolf and the Dragon were always done in threes. The raven was the wolf's companion and the Dragon was their guardian or protector. At least that's what I've managed to understand from the mythologies I've read.

**(2) 1996:** Harry's sixth year, the reason I jumped this far ahead is because the rest of the journey is unimportant. I only wanted to write up to the point where Harry manages to gain some sort of control over his magic. That and I was getting bored. XD

**(3) Remus's deduction:** Well... he _does_ reek of wolf, he _is_ covered in scars from dominance fights and hunts, he _did_ act remarkably wolf-like. What would you think? Being raised by wolves was probably the furthest thing from Remus's mind since he himself is a werewolf and it's his worst fear that Harry would have to suffer as he does.

**Well! Review please, if I don't reply to your review it's probably because my computer has gone on a merry little spazz and refuses to let me. It'll do that a lot. (**Grumbles over the fact she doesn't even have Broadband.

**Oh! And please check out my new story, its called '**_A second chance for life_**' basically Harry defeated Voldemort but because everyone is dead and he'll get pulled up for war crimes when the Ministry is finally back on its feet he decides to go to another reality where everyone's alive and fight the war there and make _sure_ that no one dies this time! If you don't like it, I'm not forcing you to read it, so please, no flamers.**

Araceil


	5. Chapter 5

_Wolf Cub_

**Sorry I took so long in updating. I've been dealing with preparing for my second year of college and typing up **_A Second Chance for life_**, discontinuing that and then starting **_the End of Days_

**I've been a busy bee.**

_Don't own Harry Potter, I do own this story. No touchies. Fanart welcome._ :D

**Chapter Five**

-

Sirius Black sat beside the werewolf, offering what support he could, Remus was severely shaken up about Harry's lycanthropy, and Snape hadn't made it any better when he stated that if he started brewing the Wolfsbane for the boy he would probably poison it. Molly Weasley threatened to poison his food or just kill him while he slept if he even tried it. And the threats Remus snarled at the potion's master made even the Ex-Death Eater cringe... just a little.

"I still can't believe it. Lily and James's little boy. No one will care about the Boy-Who-Lived; it'll be the Werewolf they respond to." Remus whimpered desolately. Sirius bit his lip and rubbed his hand across Remus's back,

"That won't matter to us." He stated bluntly, "he's still Harry, he's still ours." The canine Animagus declared looking at Remus beseechingly, Remus could never deny the puppy-eyes and Sirius needed to get the werewolf out of whatever dark mood he was in and back into finding Harry and bringing him into their world and their lives.

"Well said Sirius." Dumbledore announced jovially as he swept into their chambers, clashing clothes swirling out around him. The Headmaster's usual shadows accompanied him into the room, Minerva on the right and Severus on the left, Sirius glowered at the Potions Master briefly before deciding that comforting Moony was more important than their mutual hatred of each other.

Remus got to his feet, "Headmaster we have to find him before the next fullmoon!" the werewolf exclaimed in a strained voice, "I'll brew the Wolfsbane myself if I have to!"

Dumbledore smiled benignly, something which put Sirius's teeth on edge, after the whole Azkaban debacle the Grim Animagus was far from trusting the old man and not nearly close to forgiving him for losing over a decade of his life.

"Now, now, Remus. I'm sure it will not come to that. Severus will brew a large enough batch for the both of you." At this omission the potions master looked as if he'd swallowed a lemon soaked in Skelle-grow potion. "As for finding young Harry, we've set various traps around the forest and I have Hagrid covering the ground and Xiomara covering him from the air. We'll find him Remus, have no worries about that."

Minerva pursed her lips, "I am far more concerned about his state of mental health Albus. The boy has not been with another living person since he was 2-years of age unless one counts the werewolf that bit him. He probably won't even know how to speak English." The Deputy Headmistress pointed out,

"I don't care!" Remus snarled startling those in the room with his sudden ferocity, there was a reason Remus tried to stay as calm and good humoured as he did, his emotions when out of control tended to bring out the wolf in him. "He's our cub and we'll do right by him! As James and Lily would have done for any of our children!"

Sirius placed his hands on Remus's shoulders and pulled him back down onto the sofa, "Minnie never said that we wouldn't help him Moony. You're right, he is our cub and we will not leave him lost. Headmaster," the Animagus turned to the headmaster, the warmth he used when soothing the werewolf suddenly becoming noticeably colder and sharper, "Remus and I will be joining the ground search party this evening." He stated, giving the headmaster no room for argument.

The old man opened his mouth to argue but was roughly cut off when Remus let off a low, animalistic growl that caused all the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on edge and make Severus pale dramatically as he realised the usually docile Defence Against Dark Creatures professor's eyes glowed bright amber with no small amount of anger, blood lust and magic.

"Very well." The headmaster finally managed to agree, "But do be back before dawn."

The last of the Marauders nodded watching with accusing eyes as the Headmaster and his shadows left their chambers.

-

Harry watched his pack from his usual perch upon the fallen tree, Ithn was trying to goad an elderly Swift into a race but the male was far more interested in sleeping –much like his brother Black Tip, in the sunny patch of their clearing. Blue was keeping track of her rough housing cubs while her mate and several of the other males and females went off hunting, they had a huge pack, mostly stemming from Alkalin –laying on the grassy patch, her coat now silver with age, and Nighteyes who died in the snows earlier that year.

Their pack had an unusually long life, something for which Harry was grateful as he watched them, despite her age, Alkalin was more of an asset to them than a hindrance, she knew the Old Ways and she could also care for the cubs when they needed to go hunting during the winter months. Once or twice one of the ugly smelly two-leggers would stagger into their clearing, wielding large tree branches and roaring, Alkalin would take the cubs and hide while the rest of the pack dealt with the intruder.

It was peaceful, the two-leggers hadn't ventured after him, either for fear of his pack's jaws or because they couldn't keep up. Two-leggers were notorious for being slow. Harry sighed placing his head on top of his arm, a leg lazily swinging down from his perch. That Wolf-man...

He'd never encountered a two-legger like him before, his scent was distinctly wolf and yet he was a Two-legger, he didn't even understand Wolf so that ruled out the Wolf-Legger being like him. He smelt warm, familiar... Harry growled irritably shaking his head, he shouldn't be thinking of that Two-Legger, he had his pack, enough food, shelter and water, he didn't need anything else. He was content.

_Warm amber eyes; paw outstretched, strange words, warm and soothing. Beckoning._

Harry snarled jumping off his perch and stalking out of the clearing, much to Ithn, Blue and Lucky's confusion,

'_What's wrong with Raven?_' Lucky asked his older sister, Ithn shrugged in the way that only wolves could,

'_I'll go find out._' She said slinking off out of the clearing, Blue shook her head watching her sister leave. If any of them had a chance of sneaking up on Raven undetected it was Ithn, she'd made it her life's mission to be a master huntress and tracker, if she had to shadow her brother and attack him then so be it.

Harry sighed running through the trees, he liked running, his annoying little voices in his head blurred together in the rhythm of his feet hitting the floor. Running was his escape. The others called him crazy but Harry proved that by running often, he could run further and farther than they could. Why couldn't he get that Two-Legger out of his head? Honestly, it was driving him batty.

**SsS**"_Watch where you're going! Sssstupid Biped._"**SsS** Harry skidded to a stop and crouched down to eyelevel with the small grass adder watching him with narrowed black eyes, **SsS**"_Back off before I bite you, sssstupid._"**SsS** the little menace hissed opening its mouth and displaying rather large fangs considering how small his head was.

**SsS**"_You would not wissssh to bite me, Sssserpent._"**SsS** Harry returned biting his own teeth together audiably. The snake swayed slightly, its mouth closing warily, beady black eyes fixed upon Harry.

**SsS**"_Wolf Child. I did not ex-ssss-pect you to ssspeak ssso well._"**SsS** the serpent commented, which was as good as an apology that Harry was going to receive. **SsS**"_You do not plan to eat me, that I know. Ssso, why do you ssstop?_"**SsS **

**SsS**"_I am confusssed._"**SsS** Harry admitted leaning back against a tree, allowing the small adder to crawl up his arm and rest upon his bare chest for warmth. **SsS**"_I am not a Wolf. Thisss I know and I thought I had made my peace-sss- with it. Apparently not. Last bright orb_(1)_ I encountered sssome two-leggers in the foressst, they ssseemed to be looking for me. One of them sssmelled of wolf. He felt, sssafe, familiar. It isss confusssing. I do not know if I belong with the Two-Leggersss –asss they are the sssame ssspeciesss asss me, or with thossse who raisssed me. The wolvesss._"**SsS** He explained running his fingers down the serpent's back.

**SsS**"_Ssssss, a mossst disssturbing problem you have Wolf Child. Your heart pullsss you one way, while your body pullsss you another._"**SsS** The little snake coiled itself a little around Harry's fingers to look him in the eye, **SsS** "_There isss nothing I can tell you to do. Lightning Child, Wolf Child, Child of Power, Raven, Ssspeaker, Harry Potter. Thessse namesss belong to you, all of them, jussst as you belong to them. Your dessstiny isss ssstill being written young Ssspeaker. All I can tell you isss to never forget where you came from and where your heart truly livesss._"**SsS**

Harry pulled a face, oh yes very useful, not.

The snake chuckled, sunlight moving across his scales, **SsS** "_I sssee you do not approve of my advice-sss-. Worry not Wolf Child. It will become clear later. Sssnakesss are not known for being very forward, asss you well know._"**SsS**

True, Snakes were so small they spent their lives under foot; as such they tended to have a wicked sense of humour or were very bitter about the world. They would prank you five ways till Friday if they could, they also had an annoying habit of seeing the future but keeping it a secret just to laugh to themselves when you're close to busting a blood vessel with frustration trying to figure out what all the cryptic comments are about.

**SsS** "_Very well, Ssserpent. I will keep your wordsss in mind._**SsS** Useless cryptic chew toy.' He added bitterly in a mutter.

Harry was so busy chatting to the snake he failed to notice Xiomara swooping down low on her broomstick to watch the exchange. Oh gods, the boy was a Parseltongue... the Flying Instructress shuddered, black hair, 16-years-old, slender, green eyes, shirtless and savage, yes that was Potter alright. "_Stupefy!_" She whispered, aiming her wand at him.

Harry frowned, sniffing the air delicately, he could smell something burning. Twisting around he turned to look around the small section of forest he was hiding in, '_Ithn! What have I told you about follo_–' Whatever else Harry had been about to say to his younger sister was cut off when the bolt of red light struck the small of his back.

'_RAVEN!_' the female howled racing out of the undergrowth, sniffing over his unconscious body frantically, licking at his face and whining. '_Raven! Wake up, this isn't funny! Brother! Wake up, c'mon get up! Two-Leggers are coming! Oh please Big Brother!_' The She-wolf pleaded, gnawing on his matted black hair.

**SsS**"_Bloody hell! Ssshe-Wolf! A little help pleassse!_"**SsS** The adder hissed trying unsuccessfully to pull its tail out from under Harry's shoulder. Ithn looked at the little snake, not completely understanding what it was saying but getting the idea of it anyway, pawing aside Harry's shoulder she then ignored the serpent as it escaped as she tried to wake her Pack leader and older brother.

Xiomara frowned slightly watching the She-wolf fuss over the Potter boy as she landed, the animal jumped slightly spinning around with her teeth bared, ears laid back, hackles raised, crouched over the boy's prone body.

"Xiomara!" The woman turned slightly watching as Hagrid, Sirius, Remus, Fillius, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Charlie Weasley all approached her,

'_I won't let you touch my brother!_' Ithn snarled her fur standing on end, trying to make herself look larger than she really was.

"Bloody hell!" Charlie exclaimed spotting the She-wolf snarling at them over the body, "Did she attack him?" He demanded, Xiomara shook her head,

"I stunned him. I think she's trying to protect him."

"Think it's because he's a Werewolf?" Kingsley asked glancing at Remus who had his eyes glued to the black mane of the 16-year-old. Xiomara shook her head,

"Maybe. Either way, it's going to be difficult getting him out of here with that She-wolf standing over him like that." She pointed out.

-

Harry groaned as his mind suddenly decided to drag itself out of the black mud of unconsciousness. His head hurt. So did his nose? Odd.

Harry's senses decided that now would also be a good time to get off their tea break and return to their posts. The scent of Magic hit him like the floor from 50-feet up, it was hot, too hot, he couldn't smell any fresh air and the scent of bird and burning was thick in the air. Cracking open his eyes he almost hissed with the sheer amount of _red_ that was surrounding him, his arms were pulled behind his back and he was sat in a highly uncomfortably position.

"Albus, he's waking up." Announced a voice over on Harry's left, exploding against his hyper-sensitive hearing.

"About time the lazy brat." Harry snarled at the tone of voice, hostility was one way to get your throat ripped out.

Emerald eyes snapped open, taking in the round den, the red and gold and the moving markings on the walls, the Two-Leggers in the room, the fact that he was restrained and that there was no sign of a rock, tree, plant or his pack was making him edgy, angry and claustrophobic.

There was an old man, powerful, Harry would have to be careful of him, he was obviously the leader of this pack. An older woman... she seemed to be the leader's mate but Harry could be wrong. The Wolf man and another man who reminded Harry of a large dog, he liked them already. A pack of red-furred Two-Leggers, Harry intensely disliked the way that their Alpha female was looking at him, he snarled at her causing the woman to jump back a little in fright. A group of people who didn't really register on Harry's danger-metre, sure they were dangerous in their own right but they were more or less just background to Harry. And then lastly was a dark haired male which really got Harry's Hackles up, he was watching him with barely concealed hostility, ahh, the young Upstart who wanted to lead the pack yet was firmly put in his place. Bitter and hostile to all outsiders and even those higher on the food chain than he himself as a result of it. All the more reason to go for his throat and remind him of his place.

"Harry, you're safe now." The older woman said approaching him, Harry lunged forward and tried to bite her when she got too close, snarling and growling.

'_Where's my pack? Where Am I Two-Legger? Let me go before I kill you all!'_ he snarled, lips curled and releasing his magic against the conflicting scent around him.

"I don't think he understands us." Arthur stated to Minerva, "you're probably frightening him." he pointed out. The woman nodded and stepped back, and the volume of Harry's growling went down a notch.

"Typical savage." Snape commented, and the growling suddenly went up three notches as feral green eyes locked onto him, lips curled up displaying unusually sharp teeth which had no doubt torn a few throats out.

Remus stepped between the two of them and glares at Snape, "Shut up or leave, you're antagonising him and frankly, you're pissing me off too." The werewolf growled his eyes narrowing upon the Potions master. The Death Eater spy pursed his lips together and stepped back, glowering at Remus as the werewolf nodded and turned to Harry who had now stopped growling and was watching him curiously.

Sirius moved a little closer to Remus, prompting Harry's eyes to snap to him the slight twitching of his lips betraying the growl building in his throat, Sirius stayed where he was standing and watched as Remus took a few steps forward. His Werewolf side surfacing slightly, he frowned slightly beginning to hear the growling coming out of the boy's throat differently. It was beginning to take the shape of words.

"Its OK Harry, I'm not going to hurt you." He said gently reaching a hand out to him to sniff, Harry pushed himself away slightly, he didn't know what this two-legger wanted but he wasn't going to give it to him.

'_Go away Two-legger!_' he snapped, Remus hissed in pain pulling his bleeding hand away while those in the room gasped jumping to their feet, Harry growled trying to pull himself free of the chair and the ropes that bound him.

"Don't move!" Remus barked, glaring at the Order members as he cradled his bleeding hand. "You'll only make this more difficult."

"Remus, you should get that checked by Poppy." Dumbledore commented,

The werewolf growled, "With all due respect Headmaster. Sod off. I'll do it later." Startling the whole room into silence save a growling Harry who didn't understand, taking a deep breath Remus approached again, keeping his movements slow, refusing to meet Harry's eyes as he extended the still bleeding hand out to him in a gesture of trust.

"Its OK Harry, no one's going to hurt you. I just want to check you, see if you're alright." The Defence Against Dark Creatures professor murmured allowing Harry to sniff at his bleeding hand, moving the other hand carefully, Harry's eyes snapping over to that hand as both hands moved toward his head slowly, fingers brushing through his hair. Remus swallowed as the growling finally tampered off and Harry watched him with wary curiosity instead of outright hostility.

"Poor dear. We'll have to feed him up; he's all skin and bones." Molly clucked, Charlie chuckled,

"Actually I think teaching him to understand English should be a first." He pointed out, "At the moment he doesn't understand what we're saying and he's going by what he sees, hears, smells and feels. Hence why I think Snape should be kept away, for both their safety."

Remus took a shaky breath, gesturing Sirius over, "Harry, this is Sirius. You can call him Padfoot." He said taking Sirius by the hand and offering it to Harry. Sirius smiled, "Don't look him in the eye Padfoot, it's considered a challenge." Remus whispered to his friend.

Harry sniffed at the offered hand curiously, he smelled like dog, small spaces, dampness and depression, he whined slightly looking at the other male with eerily intelligent eyes.

"Padfoot." Sirius said nodding his head,

"Aa-ot?" Harry tried to repeat, watching Sirius shrewdly.

"Paad-fooot." The Marauder repeated grinning from ear to ear as Harry repeated what he said carefully, trying to get it right.

"Aad-ffut?"

"Pad, p-padfoot."

"P, Paad-fut. Padfut."

"Oot. Foot. Padfoot."

"Foot? Padfoot?"

"Yes!"

Minerva smiled folding her arms as she watched each of the Marauders teach Harry their nicknames before pointing to each person in the room and teaching Harry their names. Though Remus had to smack Sirius over the head when he tried to get Harry to all Snape Snivillus.

"Looks like we might be able to insert Harry into the Hogwarts Population sooner than we thought." She commented to Albus, who was watching the proceedings with interest,

"Yes, he's much more intelligent than we thought he would be. Harry seems to pick up languages instinctively, the question is, what of magic?"

"Only time will tell."

"Ood cut?" Harry asked looking at Dumbledore, Sirius shook his head.

"No Harry, repeat after me: Old Coot!"

"Old Coot?"

"Yes!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**X3 Sorry, I couldn't resist having Sirius teach Harry to call Dumbledore 'Old Coot'. It seemed like something Sirius would try.**

**(1) Last bright orb:** Day. They don't call the sun, the sun, that's a human word so the snakes came up with a different word. Bright orb. XDD Don't ask. My brain is being weird again.

**Review por favor. I took a lot of effort to squeeze this chapter out. Writers block halfway through, ugh, what a bitch.**

Araceil


	6. Chapter 6

_Wolf cub_

**Sorry about not updating this for such a long time. My dad decided that now would be a good time to cut my computer time to only 2 hours a day so I had to go off and get myself a job. **

**Still haven't found a job but this is what I love about College, FREE PERIODS! So this chapter is brought to you through the wonders of a floppy disk and the college computers. Also, you'll have to thank my boyfriend for giving me a kick up the arse about finishing what I start. X3;; I have that annoying habit.**

**Just a warning, if I do vanish for a prolonged amount of time, just know that unless I post a formal statement, I will **_never_** abandon this story. I luffs it too much.**

**Also, I hav' anoth'r question fer ye me 'arties. Sirius and Remus, couple or brothers? Up to you guys, I could go either way.**

**Chapter 6**

Harry craned his head around rapidly, his senses were on overdrive even as he attempted to memorise his path, Moony and Padfut(1) were taking him to their den, he could tell because their scent was particularly thick upon this path. Harry sniffed the air delicately, almost gagging on the oppressive clogging reek of the magic that saturated the air, how on earth was he supposed to scent anything if all he smelt was magic? The only reason he was even capable of picking out Moony and Padfut's scent along with path was because they'd travelled it recently so it was still fresh.

All in all, the Wolf Child was getting irritated with the saturated atmosphere.

Halfway down a corridor he stopped abruptly and pulled his hand away from the older males, he didn't try to run as the Two-Leggers sudden ready posture may have suggested they thought he would, but instead he sat down and took a deep breath, this time he did gag on the magic before choking it out. Closing his eyes, Harry stretched out his senses, of course he had no idea that he was using his magic to see in a manner that had not been witnessed within the castle since the days Rowena Ravenclaw herself glided through the corridors and classrooms, a dreamy smile upon her attractive features as if she could see things no one else could.

Sirius frowned and flinched when he felt something touch him, wild and uncontrolled, yet familiar and innocent, he looked sharply at Harry realising that the feeling was emanating from him. He glanced to Remus who was stiff, his eyes glowing amber as the werewolf awoke within, yet surprisingly remained silent, watching the raven haired human-cub block of the ambient scent of magic. Fresh spells, he would be able to scent, however, the magic being produced by the very air, earth, castle and wards would not be registered unless Harry himself reattached that scent to his senses.

Gently pulling his senses back into him the boy's eyes slowly fluttered open, and the scent of wolf flooded his senses. What happened next would remain branded upon Sirius's memories, the black haired youth who was sat in an odd position on the floor was suddenly in the air, and then on the ground in a ready stance that he associated with Moony about to attack a threat. Green eyes blazed, that same wild and uncontrolled touch of magic filling the corridor with pressure, this time hostile and warning, teeth bared and a loud menacing growl filling his ears.

Where on earth did a 16-year-old learn how to move like that?

Surprisingly, Remus/Moony didn't react, the werewolf was quiet, just watching the other Wolf Child –for he did recognise the child as a wolf, if a slightly foreign one, with interest. If Remus wasn't already freaked out by the fact that his werewolf counter-part wasn't trying to shunt him out of control, then it was the fact that Harry's growling was beginning to make sense to him; he could feel a wave of protectiveness and _pack_ coming from Moony. If Remus didn't know any better, he may have mistaken it for fatherly pride.

Sniffing delicately at the air, Harry stopped growling and relaxed his stance slightly with a whine of confusion,

'_Stranger. What are you? You are wolf yet Two-legger, two souls and one body._'

The other man-wolf said nothing, and then he smelt amusement before the wolf withdrew, leaving a highly confused and irritated Harry, a rather bemused Sirius and a Remus with a steadily budding respect for his young charge and a slight sense of peace from the wolf in his mind.

-

Sirius and Remus's chambers were very interesting, strange sights, sounds and smells, the floor was soft, almost like moss under paw but without the insects and thorns that sometimes littered it. It was also dark blue and patterned unlike any moss Harry had encountered. There were strange soft things that reeked of his new carers; they had straight backs and an odd shelf at the front which Sirius demonstrated by sitting upon, he called them 'Sofas'.

Harry wanted to explore! This place was filled with curious smells and strange dark corners; he could smell other creatures in the room but nothing that sent his danger radar particularly buzzing. This place was safe.

"Now, Harry." Remus said looking at his honorary godson who was currently crouched on the floor, sniffing at the base of his reading lamp, Remus chuckled, as a half-blood he had a certain liking for some of their technology and had incorporated it with the use of magic. That lamp was one of his favourite experiments.

Harry looked at him with wide green eyes that reminded the werewolf of when he first saw the boy, little more than a babe in his mother's arms. "Haa-ri?" He asked tilting his head. Remus smiled,

"Harry." He stated touching the boy on the shoulder, he then pointed to him and said 'Harry' again so he would understand that was his name. But to his surprise the boy shook his head,

He touched his chest, "Ray-ven. Reiven." He tried, as if tasting the word to see if it was right, translating from Wolf to human was difficult, but it was kind of like Parselmouth. "Raven." He nodded and slapped his chest again, "Raven."

Remus looked to Sirius and shrugged with a smile, "Looks like he has a name of his own." Sirius chuckled,

"Let him keep it, we can't let the Daily Prophet or Voldemort find out about him, Raven would make a nice nickname we can use in public for him." The Dog Animagus pointed out. Remus smiled, no one could ever claim that Sirius was stupid, just sometimes impatient and very, very brash. Very Gryffindor. While Remus was caught between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, he'd argued long and hard with the hat for Gryffindor, and almost fainted when it pondered putting him in Slytherin. The serpent house had been firmly vetoed when the hat finally dug through enough to encounter Moony, which had been amusing, the werewolf had set the hat hopping in horror before promptly bellowing out Gryffindor.

"Anyway, we need to get him cleaned up. A haircut wouldn't go amiss either." He said glancing to the 16-year-old who was sniffing around the trail of Sirius's grim counter-part from last Full Moon 3 weeks ago. Remus and Harry would need to get the Wolfsbane soon and go into isolation before the start of term.

Sirius looked at the boy and shook his head, "Only a trim, long hair suits him." he stated which caused Remus to wrinkle his nose, he could see Sirius's point but long hair had never been one of Remus's favourite things.

Oh sure he could understand Sirius keeping his hair long, it actually amused him –especially when he pranked the Animagus into a dress, Sirius actually looked good as a woman. But when people didn't take care of it and it got greasy, ratty and damaged it just grated on his nerves. Wolves are very finicky when it comes to the care and upkeep of their fur, Remus just assumed that his irritation with poor grooming was a carry over. One of his lesser liked ones but one of the liveable kind.

"He should have his own room, wolves are notorious for independence." Remus pointed out, Sirius nodded and summoned a house-elf to create the new room while Remus went to herd Harry into the rather large bathroom to clean him up.

The werewolf sighed, he was actually a bit squeamish about helping Harry with the bath, he knew he shouldn't be, it was nothing he hadn't seen before and he sure as hell knew that Harry hadn't actually had a proper bath –mostly just dipping himself under river water which really wasn't enough, but he was actually squeamish about helping the 16-year-old wash himself. Oh Spirits, if Sirius ever found out he'd never live it down, the werewolf had been teased something awful by James and Sirius when he walked into the Gryffindor Quidditch changing rooms while they were in the showers, he promptly squeaked and darted out of the room –red as a beet, apologising profusely. It amused the Stag and canine Animagi for hours on end; they never let him live it down and actually dubbed him 'Moony the Modest'. Peter thought it was hilarious too, though Remus refused to think about that retarded fuck-shit rat and vowed to tear him violently, slowly and painfully, limb from slimy, putrid, limb.

Sirius and Remus spent a full three hours trying to get Harry clean, most of which was trying to keep the boy _in_ the bath, the 16-year-old hated the attention and actually snapped at Sirius when the black haired male tried to hold him down in the water, Remus intervened with a well aimed bop to lad's nose, effectively making him go cross-eyed and forget about attacking the Animagus. By the time they were done, Remus and Sirius were shocked at the colour of the water, it was almost the same bronze tan shade that Harry's skin was from spending his life outside. Also, it took three powerful drying charms to dry Sirius and Remus off once they'd allowed Harry to spring out of the bath and bolt back into the living room.

Harry was now of the opinion he was never stepping paw inside that cursed room again.

Bath time how he abhorred thee.

After finally managing to hit the 16-year-old with a drying charm, Sirius and Remus then set about trying to tame his hair and cut his nails before he hurt someone with them. It rather surprised them that Harry's nails were very strong and rather sharp –by the time Harry was 13 he could kill things with his finger nails and only needed his flint knife for large kills like deer or elk if he could find them. His hair was a nightmare, Remus almost lost a hand when he caught a snag that made Harry snarl and go for him, the Wolf Child was definitely not a happy trooper by the end of the grooming process, and to cap it off...

They tried to make him wear shoes.

By now Harry was so fed up with the fuss, the touching, the strange words being spoken over his head in a language he didn't understand, the pulling, pushing, prodding and primping by the time they'd finished getting him into a plain white muggle T-shirt and a pair of grey sweat-pants, when Sirius tried to put a pair of trainers on his feet Harry narrowed his eyes and they promptly burst into flames.

"I don't think the shoes will be necessary Padfoot." Remus said with a wry grin, he could feel Moony just under the surface, deeply amused by whatever it was that Harry was grumbling under his breath in Wolf. Occasionally Remus would catch a snatch of '_medalling canine_', '_set _him_ on fire_' and what nearly made Remus snort with laughter, '_Turn his other half pink. Yup, bright neon pink with purple splotches and make it smell like the Dumb-Two-leggers from the forest_' Remus came to the conclusion that the so called dumb two leggers would be trolls.

"It's getting late. We should go to bed now Moony." Sirius said straightening; carefully keeping at least three feet between him and Harry who had a face like thunder from where he was sat on the floor, cross legged with his arms folded. He looked so uncannily like his father in one of his infamous _black_ moods –oh yes, James had one _hell_ of a temper, but when he got really angry, he was positively _Slytherin_ with his revenge. And frankly, it was making Sirius edgy to see that same expression directed toward him.

After herding Harry into his room, Sirius cast several locking charms on the door, a perimeter alarm –just in case he broke through the locks, and a ward that would alert them to anything unusual and potentially dangerous to their cub before wandering off to the living room, intent on discussing the events of the day before turning in.

In his room Harry was looking around, the smell of magic was thick in the air but it was dissipating quickly as the various plants in the room breathed it in and breathed out fresh air. Whatever those funny little creatures had done to the previously blank wall to create his room, they'd done it right.

It was a very large room, roughly the size of the great hall, which was good, Harry liked the space, the ceiling was charmed like the Great Hall too, the floor was a soft and springy carpet of moss and fresh grass which pleased him immensely, there were a few trees, their roots spidering out of the earth to create strange furniture similar to that of Sirius and Remus's den. A tree-branch that was rather flat created what Remus had called a 'table' and there were some of those straight backed shelves made out of wood and soft springy leaves that Sirius called chairs. There were a few 'shelves' made out of tree branches with a few alphabet books, there was a single portrait in the room, it was of a couple, a black haired man with glasses and brown eyes, a woman with red hair and green eyes alarmingly similar to Harry's and a small bundle in her arms, their cub peering out of the folds with Harry's eyes. It was a muggle portrait and didn't move, but its significance confused Harry.

Finally having enough of pondering the meaning behind silly Two-Leggers and their wall drawings he slipped to the far side of the room and smiled slightly at the earthy overhang that had a sort of den like bed sunken into the floor, it was filled with leaves and green blankets and smelt of fresh air.

Slinking into the den Harry curled up into a ball, suddenly swamped with the profound feeling of _loneliness_. This would be the first evening that he would spend away from his pack; this would be the first time in 14-winters that he would be alone in a den without his pack.

He wondered if Ithn was alright, he knew she'd been close by while he'd been chatting with the Serpent, speaking of which... a small growl bubbled in his throat, little viper, it knew this would happen! All those bloody cryptic comments.

Shame that snake meat tasted so nasty.

-

It was at some point in the middle of the night while Harry kept twisting and snuffing in his sleep, unable to sleep without his Pack on all sides that his magic suddenly twisted and warped in alarm. Harry bolted upright a low snarl filling the room; something was wrong, twisted and _obscene_.

Harry firmly pursed his lips and stretched out his senses... the feeling wasn't in the room... it was outside, coming from...

_The Forest!_

Harry's eyes flew open, '_MY PACK!_' he howled in horror, suddenly realising, he was in the castle; they were outside and possibly under threat. It must have been the reason why he woke up! His family were in danger! Harry's magic spread out around him, growing wings of power as he raced at the door, seeing the coloured chains and threads that wrapped it, an impatient growl tore them free and the Lightning Child bowled out of his Forest-room. Ignoring the yelp of surprise and vague horror from one of the other doors.

Harry charged through the room, aiming for the nearest window, similar chains tied the room –only to be torn away with a furious gesture allowing Harry to dive from the room.

"HARRY NO!" Remus yelled racing after the boy who was diving straight for the window –they were on the bloody 7th floor, there was no way he would survive the impact! Why was he doing this? What was wrong?

Glass shattered and the wind raked through Harry's fur as he plunged out of Remus-and-Padfut's den and into midair, Harry watched as he soared out over empty air, he'd done something like this before. His magic would give him wings, of that he knew. Harry dropped to the ground, revelling in the weightlessness, the air and the feeling of freedom, he had no idea just how... confining the Two-Legger's warren was. It bound him, tied him and chained him all at once, Harry despised it.

So he fell, knowing that his wings would catch him.

And he wasn't disappointed. Power folded about him, unfurling and pushing the ground away, gusts of strong air wrapping around him and cocooning him as he landed, lightly, on the grass below. Wild winds of magic disturbing his hair and clothing as he looked up to the window where he could see Remus and Padfut watching him from their den. He did not belong in their world...

No matter how much he may wish to.

Harry turned away from the stone warren and spread his magic out again, awakening the forest, the chains and webs that bound this place burned in front of his eyes, Harry breathed deep, out here, the night air was pure and lacked the seeping taint of thick abusive magic he could smell in the Stone den.

_Awaken, my Brethren._

The whispers of magic, of power and of freedom drifted through the atmosphere and Harry could sense the Forest uncurling, like a contented beast after a long deep nap. And Harry smiled.

-

The world sang and hummed with light and life, and Harry wondered, why could the Two-Leggers not see this world of light and music? If they did, they would mourn every spider they killed, every flower that trampled, every animal they consumed or enslaved. In retrospect, Harry realised, Two-Leggers were foolish, too unsure of their places in the world to even know of the world of Light.

No, they would not know of this place, not until they were ready to throw away their insecurities and know themselves. Really understand why they do the things they do, and throw away unnecessary complications. He doubted it would ever happen, but if the Two-Leggers were ever going to progress... they would have to learn something of freedom and the world.

Harry guessed that was why he was capable of moving through this world, of embracing it. He knew freedom, he _was_ freedom in a sense, Wolves gave him freedom and he grew wild –like a garden left alone for years, he grew untamed and magnificently.

He knew the world for what it was, home, pack, future, past and present. The world was cruel and kind by turns, magic was her gift to them, life was her gift, and death was her gift. Harry had no illusions about what would happen when he died, he would give life. Creatures that ate his corpse, fed their young, laid their eggs or hatched their young upon his dead body would be given life on his death. He held no doubts or delusions of grandeur, he would die, just like everything else, and he would welcome the ultimate freedom when it came to him.

Until then, he would protect those he held dear, kill those he needed to kill to survive, and maybe, if he was lucky, he may find himself a mate and then care for his young. Unlikely, but he would welcome it all the same. But in the end, he would die. There was no two-way about it. He would die, magic could not change that, Two-Leggers could not change that and Harry couldn't lie to himself about it. He would die, probably not for a while, but he would. Lying to oneself about such things was foolish and counter productive.

Maybe that was why he could run here.

He could not lie.

-

**Yes, a Cliffhanger, ain't I a stinker? XDD**

**You'll have to wait for the next update, I'm sorry; other things keep creeping up on me.**

**(1) Padfut:** Spelled phonetically, what? Harry only knows what it sounds like; he doesn't know the right letters. I decided to spell Sirius's nickname phonetically to indicate Harry lack of knowledge in the English language.

**Review please! And tell me your answer, Sirius and Remus, lovers or brothers? I could quite honestly, go either way.**

Araceil


	7. Chapter 7

**Wolf Cub**

**A sooner update that you guys are used to, mainly because I'm going to Japan in two days and I don't want to leave without posting this up.**

**And by popular demand, Sirius and Remus are... **

**Drum roll please!**

**_BROTHERS_!**

**Enjoy.**

**Chapter Seven**

-

Ithn sighed her head on her paws, amber eyes glaring at the large dog who had been watching her for the last two hours. She had no idea when those horrible Two-Leggers shot their red lightning at her but she'd woken up with a killer headache in front of a _massive_ Two-legger's den, that dog watching her, and a rope around her throat. Trapping her in place.

She had no idea what happened to Raven and it was making her angry, very angry. She'd already bitten the huge Two-Legger and tried to gut the dog when it got too close, so now it waited at least three wolf-lengths away(1).

She was bored, hungry and irritable with the fact that she couldn't smell her brother anymore.

Full moon would be coming soon, and they would sing, sing to the moon, their whole pack once they'd found Raven. Ithn would make sure they didn't sing until they found him, he was their leader and their protector, they would not sing unless he was there.

Ithn frowned, her ears flicking forward, her nose twitching as something... wrong drifted from the forest on the light breeze. It smelt of magic, rotting and putrid snake's flesh all at once. Twisted and wrong.

And then she smelt Raven.

'_BROTHER!_' She howled jumping to her feet and trying to race to where she could see him flying down, forgetting the rope that jerked back and sent her rolling onto her back. '_Get off of me _NOW!' She commanded grabbing the rope in her jaws and _wrenching_ it, Fang barking and trying to bowl her over even as the braided fibres snapped and the she-wolf sprung out of the way. Causing the large hound to skitter and almost headbutt Hagrid's cabin.

Ithn leapt lightly over him and raced forward, her feet skipping lightly across the ground, she could feel Raven's magic stretching out, the world seemingly coming alive as it inhaled his presence.

Pearly white fangs bared in a lycan grin as she fairly flew across the grounds toward her brother as he likewise flew across the dark grass, wings of power spread wide. She jumped and barked in delight as she ran, her brother was back! And even if he was a two-legger and she a wolf, she could still love him. Regardless.

Dimly she could hear the huge dog running behind her, far back, there was no way he could keep up with her, she flew on the wings of Raven's power. Stretching out her legs she picked up her pace, bolting into the trees of the forest, gradually drawing level with her brother as she skimmed upon his magic, and smiled her doggy-smile.

Emerald eyes slid aside and sparked with life and happiness, an equally large toothy grin stretching upon his mouth.

She did love him. She was loyal to him. She belonged to him.

And any mate who disagreed would find themselves at the end of her fangs.

-

Harry ran, well aware of Ithn drawing level with him and grinned at her before the scent of _wrong_ filled his nostrils making him choke and growl and spit and snarl. He ran on and frowned catching sight of a large black canine racing to keep up, tongue lolling with stormy blue/amber eyes fixed upon him. Harry's eyes narrowed, Padfut.

He bared his teeth and picked up his pace, Ithn following suit going to the fastest of her abilities. She truly was a beautiful creature, her fur more silver than grey as she ran it seemed to shimmer as it caught the dappled light, any hunter would give an eye and a leg to have a chance to take her pelt. But they would have to deal with Harry before even getting near enough.

Harry's teeth bared again as he and Ithn stopped abruptly in their den's clearing, there were two-leggers everywhere in heavy black sheets, their faces covered with white masks that smelt of bone and dirt. Ithn growled as Padfut skidded into the clearing and changed back so quickly it startled Harry into growling briefly at him.

One of them stepped forward and Harry gagged covering his nose, _he_ was the one who reeked of wrongness!

Whatever was about to be said by the _wrong one_ was cut off as the clearing suddenly filled with the menacing growling of Harry's pack, even Alkalin was there, her fur glowing in the moonlight as she circled around and stopped beside Harry, Black Tip, Blue and several of the other wolves taking defensive positions in a circle around the intruders.

_Wrong One_ frowned slightly and snapped something to another wolf-man, unlike Mooney and Remus though, this one was so close to his wolf they were the same person and he was wrong, insane, and he was dangerous, sick in the head. Had he been a wolf he would have been killed the moment that scent of _wrongness_ was whiffed, cruel it sounds but it would protect the pack, and the pack was everything.

"**SsS**_Nagini, sssee what you can do about thessse... mongrelsss._**SsS**" the leader hissed in the second language of the snakes, white paws trailing down the head of a huge python to whom Harry's eyes narrowed upon.

"**SsS**_Your body may be large, and immune to magicsss, but even a creature sssuch asss you will fall to the pawsss and jawsss of a wolf. Try it and you ssshall be in piec-sss-es when we are finissshed, Ssserpent._**SsS**" he hissed with narrowed eyes as every wolf in the clearing kicked up their growling a notch, causing several of the Death Eaters to shift in concern. They knew the sound of a threat even if it was in another language.

The two legger blinked, "**SsS**_Harry Potter!_**SsS**" he spat in anger, Harry sneered,

"**SsS**_Wrong. My name is Raven. Leave my forest. Now. Before my pack rends you and yours from navel to nose._**SsS**" He growled shifting his weight slightly, preparing to attack, the wolves echoing his stance, Ithn's tail twitching ever so slightly in excitement, their pack had magic and since Harry was their leader they could perform little jolts of magic, Ithn's speciality was the ability to burn, Blue could vanish from sight and Alkalin was capable of healing, and while their abilities varied, they were nothing short of deadly.

"**SsS**_Your forest? I beg to differ_ Raven.**SsS** Kill them all." Voldemort ordered, switching from Parselmouth to English and the Death Eaters began to shoot off spells.

All at once the wolves leapt into action, ducking and weaving through the spells, Ithn igniting into her fiery form, eyes glowing blue as she bowled into one of the Death Eaters, scent and scream informing her it was female. Blue vanished from sight, the shadows wrapping lovingly over her body rendering her invisible as she stalked through the chaos and struck at whom-ever took her fancy. Goyle senior went down under a spray of blood as the elderly –yet never the less lethal Alkalin took his throat in her jaws, Lucius was wrestling with Mal who had employed his secondary ability of sprouting wings a set of stormy grey patterned wings arching out from his hackles.

The pack left Voldemort alone. He was their alpha, and alphas always fought it out by themselves.

-

Sirius couldn't believe what he was seeing, let alone doing, the wolves were unlikely to allow him to fight with them as a human and probably attack him in the same manor of which they were casually _slaughtering_ Voldemort's troops, already three members of his Inner Circle were down and almost half of his newer recruits were butchered. Harry could speak Parselmouth, and he was facing off against Voldemort.

Sirius couldn't help it as his mouth went dry and he aimed a flying tackle for his darling cousin Bella as she aimed an _Avada_ at the flaming she-wolf that Sirius remembered being the one to defend Harry and get tied up in front of Hagrid's. Well, no wonder she managed to break herself free, bitch had magic that put some of the best Pyromaniacs to shame.

He had no idea why there were Death Eaters in the Forbidden Forest, he also had no idea how Harry _knew_ they were there. It was the only explanation for him to suddenly dive out of the window.

And what was up with _that_? You do _not_ just take a nosedive out of the seventh floor window and land on your feet without a scratch!

'_Watch out!_' Sirius oomfed as much as he could in his canine form as he was suddenly bowled out of the way of Bella's wand tip by the flaming She-wolf, stepping over him she waved her flaming tail violently and pounced upon the woman, magma hot jaws managing to wrap around her upper left arm and burn _through_ it. Severing her arm in a fiery display of feral violence.

Bella screamed and Sirius was hard pressed not to turn back into a human to laugh at her or wince properly.

-

"**SsS**_Ssso, what do they call you? You look asss if you have a ssserpent fore-father._**SsS**" Harry commented as he watched the Two-Legger in the black cloak pacing back and forth, swaying like a viper to a snake charmer, obviously it was meant to intimidate him but evidently he had not been keeping half an eye on the battle unfolding around him and was clueless about the sheer number of his packmates dying around him. Of course Harry had not realised that Voldemort just didn't care, not caring about your packmates was such a foreign concept to Harry that his Lycan upbringing would firmly hunt, pounce and tear such a concept to little blood squealing shreds before it even registered upon his conscious mind.

"**SsS**_They call me Lord Voldemort._**SsS**" He answered, his tone dripping with arrogance and superiority.

"**SsS**_'Wings of Death'_**SsS**" Harry translated much to the surprise of the Dark Lord, "**SsS**_It does not suit you._**SsS**" He declared, watching as Voldemort's face flushed, he smelt the magic build up before it was thrown at him. Harry side stepped the jet of green light and threw an arm up, the ground beneath the feet of a Death Eater shot up and into the air, earthy spikes impailing him in time for the green light to wipe all life from his corpse. Harry sniffed the after burn of the spell and sneered, "**SsS**_You fear death. One who fears death cannot be Death. You have no right to the name Soulless one._**SsS**"

"**SsS**_LORD VOLDEMORT FEARS NOTHING!_**SsS**" The snake face roared, prompting an arched eyebrow from Harry who melted into darkness as a large volley of pain, death and dark arts curses were thrown at him.

"**SsS**_Then why can I smell it reeking off you?_**SsS**" Harry asked from behind the dark lord, whispering within his ear, jumping aside to avoid the volley of spells before he howled. A long note, haunting and rising, singing. Around the clearing the wolves stopped their carnage and howled too.

Voldemort growled furiously half in confusion half in rage, how dare that brat? What in Merlin's name was he doing now?

Together the voices of his pack rose as one, entwining with his, a chilling melody that was fast bringing dark clouds swirling about the forest, bringing a string of cursing from Voldemort's. 'Weather magic, it's supposed to be out of the reach of wizards!' he thought in surprise as the clouds continued to gather, and then the heavens opened and rain flew at them.

He laughed arrogantly, watching Potter as he lowered his head and eyed him, "**SsS**_Weather tricks won't frighten me Potter! Prepare to die you worthless wretch!_**SsS**" He bellowed throwing a slew of spells in the boy's direction.

A sharp bark and the wind rose at his command, sweeping aside the curses straight up into the sky, prompting lightning to flash even as the Death Eaters still alive Portkeyed away without his order, just as members from the Order of the Phoenix arrived upon the scene, a snarling growling Remus Lupin launching himself out of their ranks and straight into the much larger body of Fenrir Greyback.

Something sliced his cheek, hot blood dribbling down the side of his jaw as he stared in surprise at the blood which coated his fingers, he looked up and hastily cast a shield, the rain was being turned into _daggers of ice_ as it fell.

It happened too fast.

Not even he, the great Lord Voldemort, had a chance to react before those teeth were on his arm, knees crushing into his gut as nails, strong and sharp –if only just clipped, sliced through skin on his throat, digging through for his jugular. His skin burning and stinking and blistering horribly as their skin touched. Prompting writhing pain and incoherent screaming, he had only ever known such pain before, when he was forcibly thrown from his body that terrible night, 15-years-ago.

"_Accio Harry!_" Someone shouted as they saw him reach for his Portkey.

The raven haired youth was wrenched backwards, just as Voldemort grabbed his Portkey and vanished in a spinning cacophony of noise and pain.

He landed in his mansion in Little Hangleton, his bedroom to be precise and collapsed upon his bed, cradling the burning hurts cause by the boy's flesh. Old magic, he'd been so stupid, Old magic that had been the down-fall of him back then was still in effect now; he could not touch the boy at all. None of his marked could, not with their bare flesh or they too, would burn.

A furious growl bubbled from his lips, that little fucker, he would have to find a way to rid himself of Potter and soon. He would no doubt be under Dumbledore's control soon, and anyone with control over the elements and those... creatures would be a deadly adversary. His lips curled in dislike, that stupid Muggle-loving fool, he had no idea just how powerful the young man in his possession was! He would no doubt refuse to train the boy, figuring that his best chance to kill him would be to allow their Soul Link to bond to such a degree that when one died the other would as well.

Good luck Albus. He thought sardonically, Anyone that magically powerful and feral will _not_ just lay down and die for you and your stupid status quo.

That young man, his life would be wasted in the Light.

His Parselmouth abilities, his callousness toward killing and the way he commanded those beasts to follow him. Yes, Potter would make an excellent addition to the Dark.

The problem now was convincing him to join and getting him away from that Muggle-Loving, Lemon drop sucking, control freak of a Headmaster.

Voldemort laughed.

Oh how he did love a challenge.

-

**(1) Wolf lengths:** Well, wolves have no natural metric system so they measure things in their own body lengths. It seems intelligent.

**Maaa, hope you guys liked this Chapter. XDD I liked typing it too. Wow, only two hours (I'm a fast typer) and I managed to finish it. Goes to show what some good inspiration can do.**

**Oh yes, I'm coming up with two new stories, I hope you guys'll like them. Only one is a Harry Potter though.**

**Beyond the Emerald Dawn**:_ Voldemort decides that since he doesn't know the Prophesy he's going to send Harry away. Far, _far_ away using an ancient Apparation ritual that will slingshot Harry across three galaxies and to a war torn planet called _Gaia. _He must fight the war that threatens his new planet and deal with the issues that haunt him and the incidents that have befallen him upon his arrival._ **Final Fantasy 7, Harry Potter crossover. Cloud/Sephiroth And I assure you guys, that's the only slash pairing I have in there. Weird. **

**Sanctuary**:**Bleach, Firefly/Serenity crossover.**_ Kenichi ran away from home at 15 because his hot-shot Alliance General father wanted to send him off to the Academy, not knowing that it would essentially turn his son into a weapon and then deny all evidence that he even existed. Instead Kenichi joins the crew of the _Shinigami_ to pay of a debt he owes to the Captain, Ichigo Kurosaki. But that's only the beginning of his problems as he and the Mechanic Aiden Kai, kinda get along but don't. Not to mention his father is hunting for his son and the Alliance for their future weapon and are beginning to get desperate._** This does contain a lot of slash, and in the case of Ichigo and Hichi, twincest. XDD You don't have to read it if you don't want to so please don't leave immature comments after reading this calling me a sick freak for liking twincest. Trust me, I don't like it either, but this is probably the only one that I **_do_** like. Weird ne?**

**Anywho. Review pleasums!**

Araceil


	8. Chapter 8

_Wolf Cub_

-

**Sorry about the wait, major writers block and a _VERY, VERY _important message at the end of the chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

-

**Chapter 8**

-

**HARRY POTTER –SAIVOUR OR WEREWOLF?**

_Written by Rita Skeeta,_

**BOY-WHO-LIVED FOUND AT LAST** (see page 3)

**HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED GONE FOR GOOD?** (see page 5)

**101-WAYS TO USE A SUMMONING CHARM** (see page 11)

**DUMBLEDORE HIRES DARK CREATURE AGAIN?** (see page 7)

-

Remus slammed the _Daily Prophet_ down and stormed out of the Great Hall, how the _hell_ did that _bitch_ find out!?

"Remus, wait!" Sirius called as he ran out of the Hall, easily matching pace with the now golden eyed werewolf as he paused, Sirius had filled out a great deal since his break out of Azkaban and consequential proven innocence –an innocence that Dumbledore knew of yet ignored in the hopes that it might give him some leverage over Harry, sadly, Vernon Dursley abandoning him was not part of the plan.

Remus growled angrily, his hands fisting and unfisting as he tried to master his anger, "How did she find out?" He choked out still snarling like a pitbull. Sirius sighed,

"I don't know. But we need to keep a closer eye on Harry now; no doubt everyone will be trying to get into the forest to see him." He said running a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh, Remus growled spinning around and taking off at a fast paced run.

"I'll _kill_ them first!"

-

Truth be told, Albus Dumbledore had witnessed a great many threatening things without the slightest glimmer of unease. Werewolf packs and Vampire flocks during the rise of Grindelwald and armies of Inferi during the first rise of Voldemort.

So, he was greatly shocked to find himself feeling _very_ concerned for his continued well-being as he came face to bloodstained teeth with Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-Raised-By-Wolves, as the summoning charm caused the youth to slam into him, surprisingly enough not knock the aged headmaster over nor give him the handhold he had hoped to grab tightly onto Harry who had twisted in mid-air to land, feet first, on Albus's chest, foiling his attempts to get a good grip on the wild child. Teeth bared and growling menacingly.

"Albus, you might want to put him down." Moody muttered from where he was watching the Wolf Pack stalk around them, growling threateningly, ignoring the fighting between Remus and Greyback as the smaller werewolf effectively tore the larger one into little bloody ribbons.

Sirius stepped forward; ignoring Albus and Moody's hissed warnings and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, moving it to his cheek, stroking it softly allowing the wolf child to catch his scent before touching him more firmly. It was just like Moony when he'd allowed the wolf to take over for a bit, they both needed to reaffirm who was who through scent until their brains kicked in. Harry's growling did not taper off but he did not fight against Sirius as the dog-animagus wrapped his arms about his blood smeared and rain soaked godson and removed him from Dumbledore's arms.

"Don't let him..." Dumbledore began only to trail off as Sirius promptly released Harry into the care of his pack, the cluster of wolves quickly enveloping the youth, the elderly she-wolf nuzzling and fussing over him as a mother would, licking away the blood from his face before nipping at his chin in a reprimand that had Harry tilting his head up, exposing his throat submissively. Sirius would have bet his broomstick that she was the one to raise him. "Sirius," The old man began causing the black haired male to stiffen, yet not turn around, the rain causing his long hair to plaster to his back and yet he didn't feel it.

"Dumbledore, I don't want to hear it. Harry is safest here. You saw the way these wolves fought, would you like to have them storming Hogwarts to get him back? I wouldn't." Sirius said calmly, ignoring the fact that Greyback had managed to finally Portkey out and Remus was growling thunderously, only to abruptly have half the Wolf pack swarm around him, sniffing in curiosity. They had never met another Two-Legger-wolf like their Raven before, especially not one which was both and yet neither.

"He's happy here. Leave him."

Harry stalked over and took Sirius by the hand while his pack were busy examining Remus and led him into the mob of animals, his nails still slick with blood from Voldemort's throat that was fast washing away under the rain from his summoned storm.

The Order watched the Wolf Pack and the last of the Marauders mingle with indefinable emotions, some of the more philosophical or thoughtful of the group felt that the fact that the three humans found something in the simple kinship and warmth of the Wolf Pack actually... it actually left them wondering if perhaps they had been going about things wrong.

These thoughts however were not shared by everyone.

Snape sneered his arms folded as he watched Potter, the Mutt and the Wolf scrape about in the mud like the animals they were, they were welcome to this life, the sooner they embraced it the happier he would be. Because it meant they would be away from him all the sooner.

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed as he watched Harry, the rain splattering upon his halfmoon spectacles obscuring his vision, the power to summon storms, raw elemental control... the boy needed to be reigned in and _controlled_, he was too wild, and that power! It was too dangerous for any one human, especially one that was not him nor loyal to _him_, to possess.

Harry Potter had to be tamed.

-

Time came and went, Sirius and Remus still snuck into the forest as often as possible to join the wolf pack, they usually ignored them, going on about their daily lives treating them like furnature, save the little ones. The cubs would often run over, or attempt to attack them only to scuttle off and fall-over themselves to get away whenever one of them turned their attention to them. Whenever he approached, they would teach Harry English and other things about life as a human, he now knew a little English and was slowly warming up to them, despite the fact that whenever one of them tried to approach him he would growl. Reporters had been nosing about and there was even an incident where one of them attacked a cub in an attempt to draw Harry out, that reporter was removed by Sirius and Remus with extreme predujice before Harry could swoop in and gut him. They actually had to shoo over enthusiastic fans and reporters away with extreme measures (CoughSettingAragogOnThemCough) quite often. Apart from Harry, Smudge and Ithn, not many others in the pack paid them much mind, ignoring them or just avoiding them. Not that she would ever admit it but Ithn had taken an interest in stalking the Grim dog, only to jump up at inopportune moments to startle him into that oh-so amusing strangled yelp she loved to hear.

The start of term was fast approaching and Raven could speak very little English, enough to get him by but really not enough for much of a conversation by this point, Remus and Sirius had wisely refused Dumbledore's demand to offer him a place at the castle, should he ever wish to join the other students –if only for a while. Raven was curious, he had thought about joining the other Two-Leggers his own age and spoken it over with his family, Alkalin had informed him that she had resigned herself long ago to seeing her son return to the world of the Two-Leggers in search of his own mate and a Pack of his own people, Ithn seemed interested but demanded to stay at his side at all times should he decide to join that world, Smudge had been pretty much the same as Ithn though a lot less enthusiastic and a little more over-protective, claiming that throats would bleed if any of the Two-Leggers considered harming him, Lucky and Mal –the so called twins, had been curious but almost pathetically adorable when they admitted that they would miss their big brother if he decided to leave. Guilt trip much? The senior wolves, those who had been in the pack before Harry was 'adopted' had also been resigned much like Alkalin, but Swift claimed that he would still show up if only to race him and Black Tip had been most adamant about showing up in the middle of the night just to perform some manner of a prank –truly the once lone wolf was touched in the head, but a very interesting kind of touched. Blue had been neutral about it, she said that she would support him which ever he chose and told him to remember that he was still her little brother and she would treat him as such no matter what.

In the end he decided to remain in the forest.

If anything, the battle against the Wrong Alpha had proved to him that his priorities lay with protecting his Pack.

-

**I am so sorry it's so short, but I really wanted to put **_something_** up.**

_IMPORTANTE!!!_

**Since college has been getting out of hand so much, add to that I'm trying to stay for a third year to get a better qualification I really can't keep up with all my stories at the moment. I never really had any plan for this, I just started typing one day and I got this, I kept typing and it formed something that apparently you guys like.**

**So. This will not be ditched. But I was wondering if there was anyone who wanted to adopt it for themselves?**

**Leave a signed in review, I'll check out your stories see if I like your writing style (XD I don't want anyone to slaughter this because it wouldn't be fair on the other readers would it?) And if I do. I'll send you a PM with the details of what I've already got prepared. And just to remind you, **_HARRY WILL BE PAIRED WITH NO ONE!!!_** Far too many have been asking for different pairings and this is the only way of keeping everyone happy.**

**At least that's what I think.**

**Review.**


	9. Official Notice

**Official Notice**

OK people, sorry it took so long for me to post this up but I had to flee round a friend's house to avoid my grandmother.

Let's make this short shall we?

The new writer for Wolf Cub is going to be _Dead Paw_.

Thank you to everyone who has read this and reviewed, thank you so much for understanding that however ever much I _want_ to continue this, my inspiration is lacking and my time is too tight. Especially with exams around the corner. Thank you to Darkmistwolf and Lily for applying for the story but looking at your most recent works I believe Dead Paw's style is better suited to Wolf Cub.

Thanks everyone.

Araceil


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